McCain's Chances Slipping Away, Big Ten Battleground Poll Results Released

The latest Big Ten Battleground presidential poll was released on Thursday and shows that Barack Obama leads John McCain in Ohio by twelve percentage points. The poll was conducted from October 19th through the 22nd. Here is a state by state breakdown of the Midwest region: • Minnesota: Obama +19% • Iowa: Obama +13% • Wisconsin: Obama +13% • Illinois: Obama +29% • Michigan: Obama +22% • Indiana: Obama +10% • Ohio: Obama +12% • Pennsylvania: Obama +11% These numbers, with just 12 days remaining before the election, represent huge leads even given the Big Ten Battleground poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 4.2%. Furthermore, Obama still has a five point lead in Florida although that lead has gotten slightly narrower in the last few days. It is difficult to see a path for John McCain to receive the number of electoral votes required to win the presidency without winning either Florida or Ohio. Indeed without winning both of those states, it is going to be extremely difficult for McCain to piece together a victory on November 4th. It's Still The Economy, Stupid The poll’s detailed questions continue to show that the economy is the largest issue of concern for voters in the final two weeks of the campaign. Nationally, the Big Ten Battleground Poll shows Obama with a 9% lead over McCain. Barack Obama Cancels Campaign Events The new poll results come as Barack Obama has cancelled campaign events on Thursday and Friday in order to visit his maternal grandmother who is gravely in Hawaii. Meanwhile, John McCain and Sarah Palin are out stumping vigorously trying to change the tide in those states they feel they must win. More and more, it’s looking like their efforts will not be able to overcome Barack Obama’s growing momentum. Early Voting May Skew Election Day Exit Polling Early voting is also underway in many states with MSNBC reporting that nearly one third of voters will cast their ballots before November 4th. Barack Obama has been pushing for as many early votes as possible to alleviate any potential problems with lines or other elect. None of the early votes will be counted until November 4th. Early voting may also call into question the accuracy of election day exit polling making it difficult for news agencies to call individual state results until late in the vote count.