Apr
25
Indiana poll: Obama, Clinton running tight
April 25, 2008 | Tagged Hillary, Indiana, Obama, US Presidential Election | Leave a Comment
By Jojo (10)
According to The Associate Press updated poll result, Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are running tight.
Barack Obama, 48 % vs. Hillary Rodham Clinton, 47 %
A few weeks ago, Clinton was leading 49% to 46%, which means Obama improved 2% while Clinton fell 2%.
The next major test for Obama and Clinton will come in primaries in North Carolina and Indiana on May 6. Clinton hopes to keep her victory in Pennsylvania, while Obama has an advantage in North Carolina. Therefore, Indiana in particular is shaping up as a crucial battleground state in the fight for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination.
North Carolina is expected heavy turn out by African-American voters. So Obama will have a bigger chance to win. But the in Indiana, some Democrats who may be questioning whether Obama would be the strongest Democrat in November against the presumptive Republican nominee, Senator John McCain.
Some political analyst says Hillary Clinton has an uphill climb to the Democratic nomination, with her convincing win in Pennsylvania.
And refer to The New York Times, Change, which is the campaign slogan of Obama, may not carry quite the same political magic in Indiana as it has elsewhere.
Americans in Indiana hold onto a lot of traditional values, some people told the media that they want it like it used to be. They are worried about their life will be changed.
Refer to New York Times, “many of the two dozen voters interviewed in this central Indiana manufacturing city of 46,000 expressed queasiness over the notions of change that both Democratic candidates have proudly pledged elsewhere. Though residents bemoaned economic conditions that have taken away thousands of factory jobs and given the state the 11th-highest rate of foreclosures, they also said they worried about doing things – anything – very differently.”
And analysts say the recent vote in Pennsylvania clearly shows that Obama has yet to prove that he can appeal to white working class voters, which can be important swing votes in the general election in states like Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Clinton supporters say Obama’s difficulty in winning working class or so-called blue-collar voters could doom Democratic prospects in the November election.
And what makes it more uncertain is: 21% of the respondents in Indiana remain undecided of who they’ll vote – a high number of undecided voters for an election less than two weeks away.
