Poll Sees Obama Leading In 5 Battlegrounds

Respondents Split Over Palin's Press Treatment

POSTED: 9:32 am PDT September 23, 2008

UPDATED: 6:48 am PDT October 1, 2008

Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama appears to be well ahead of rival Republican candidate Sen. John McCain in four key battleground states, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll.

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Four simultaneous surveys were conducted in partnership with The Wall Street Journal and washingtonpost.com and released Tuesday.

More voters in each of the four states also said they prefered Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware over Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as running mate.

The Quinnipiac surveys found that Obama has double-digit leads among women in every state except Minnesota. In Colorado, he pulled ahead of McCain after trailing in July.

Colorado: Obama 49 percent, McCain 45 percent (July: Obama 46, McCain 47)
Michigan: Obama 48 percent, McCain 44 percent (July: Obama 46, McCain 42)
Minnesota: Obama 47 percent, McCain 45 percent (July: Obama 46, McCain 44)
Wisconsin: Obama 49 percent, McCain 42 percent (July: Obama 50, McCain 39)

Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, sid he believed the results reflect the growing unpopulaqrity of President George W. Bush -- whom Obama has persistently linked to McCain -- and the financial catastrophe on Wall Street.

In each of the four states surveyed, Bush's approval ratings hover in the mid-20s range.

By wide margins, voters in all the states ranked the economy as the most important issue facing the nation.

Respondents were split in each state over whether they thought Palin was getting fair treatment from journalists.

Read the full results from Quinnipiac University here.

In a separate poll, Obama leads McCain 49-46 percent in Virginia, a state once considered a safe Republican bet that has now moved in to battleground territory.

Virginia last backed a Democrat for president in 1964.

As in the Quinnipiac surveys, the Washington Post-ABC News Virginia poll found that respondents overwhelmingly said the top issue in their decision was the nation's economic problems and jobs.

By a split of 51 percent to 41 percent, registered voters said they believed Obama is better suited to address those issues.

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