Obama Leading in Swing States!

by Bob Funk on June 18, 2008

in '08 Election, Barack Obama

Obama is leading in three key swing states: Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. According to a Boston Globe article siting a Quinnipiac University survey,

… strong backing from blacks, women, and younger voters has pushed the presumptive Democratic nominee into the lead. Obama has a 47 percent to 43 percent lead in Florida, a 48 percent to 42 percent edge in Ohio, and a 52 percent to 40 percent lead in Pennsylvania.

In the three states, Obama leads McCain by 10 to 23 percentage points among women, while they’re even among men. Obama trails among white voters in Florida and Ohio, but gets more than 90 percent of black voters in each state. He also has double-digit leads among young voters in each state.

Quinnipiac points out that no one has been elected president since 1960 without winning at least two of the three big states, which together hold 68 of the 270 electoral votes needed.

In addition to these promising numbers, there is also good news about Hillary supporters getting behind Obama, “getting Sen. Hillary Clinton out of the race has been a big boost for Sen. Barack Obama.”

Daniel Nichanian ofThe Huffington Post, siting the same survey as The Boston Globe, writes, “[Obama] has improved significantly this month in solidifying the support of registered Democrats.”

The bad news? Well, it’s not that bad. Generally, Clinton supporters seem to be getting behind Obama, but not as quickly as I’m sure most Dems would like. For example, in Florida “19% of those who voted Clinton in the primary would choose McCain…” and in Pennsylvania “support among Clinton voters remains tepid…”

The important thing to realize, however, is that Obama is leading among independents and to remember that despite lacking overwhelming support from Clinton’s former backers (in some states), he is still leading. Over time I suspect Obama will be able win over more and more former Clinton supporters.

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