Poll: Obama better for middle class

GlobalPost

BOSTON — Middle-class voters are, of course, important to the Nov. 6 presidential election.

Both President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney have been aggressively targeting this group, particularly in swing states like Ohio, Michigan, Virginia, Pennsylvania and other places where members of this large and economically struggling voting bloc call home.

The big question: whose policies would be better to get middle income Americans back on track?

According to a poll released today by Gallup, President Obama is winning this argument.

Convincingly.

Here's how Gallup put it in today's report:

"More Americans believe middle-income earners would be better off in four years if President Barack Obama is re-elected than if Mitt Romney wins, by 53% to 43%. The public also says lower-income Americans would be better off under an Obama presidency, while, by an even larger margin, they say upper-income Americans would do better under Romney."

According to the Gallup poll, these groups would also fare better under four more years of Obama: racial and ethnic minorities, women, young adults and senior citizens.

The two are tied (47 percent v. 47 percent) when it comes to small-business owners.

Here's how Gallup analyzed the findings:

"As would be expected, these views are highly partisan -- with the vast majority of Republicans and Democrats naming their own party's candidate as better for most groups. The only exceptions are that two-thirds of Democrats believe upper-income Americans would be better off under Romney -- indicating that they don't consider this a positive credential. Also, Democrats are evenly divided between naming Obama (46%) and Romney (48%) as better for investors."

One month, fives days to go.

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