The same FOX News/Rasmussen poll that had the candidates tied nine days ago shows Barack Obama with a 3 percent lead over John McCain in Pennsylvania.
Notes from the poll:
Obama is trusted more than McCain on the economy by a seven-point margin in both Michigan and Pennsylvania. The candidates are evenly divided on the issue in the other three states.
McCain is trusted more on national security issues in all five states.
• Overall, McCain is trusted more than Obama in four of the five states, with Michigan as the exception. In Pennsylvania, McCain’s advantage on the trust question is only two percentage points while his biggest edge is found in Florida.
• When asked who they would like advice from on the toughest decision of their life, a plurality or majority in all five states pick McCain. The margins are very small in Pennsylvania and Michigan.
• The Republican support for McCain is quite stable. The modest changes from week-to-week can generally be found in changes among Democrats and unaffiliated voters.
• In Pennsylvania, 5% of voters remain undecided. That’s higher than in any of the other states.
The poll surveyed 500 likely voters in five states including Pennsylvania. The others are Florida, Michigan, Ohio and Virginia. Obama’s up seven points in Michigan, but McCain leads by 3 percent in Ohio, 5 percent in Florida, and the two are tied in Virginia.
What has to be of a concern to the Obama team is the fluidity of their support. As the poll noted, Republicans are rock solid in their backing of the McCain team, probably because of conservative Sarah Palin’s ability to coalesce so much enthusiasm behind the ticket. In a year of such uncertainty when it comes to the economy and now national security given the recent bombing in Pakistan and new threats against American interests coming from al Qaeda, I’m sure the Obamacrats would like to see much more dedicated support among their backers.
That’s where Hillary Clinton is needed. But will she campaign in Pennsylvania?
