Sherwood Ross of Global Research interviewed 100 voters over the past two days in the Miami-Dade County area of Florida and determined that the Sunshine State might go to Senator Barack Obama over Arizona's John McCain.
Sherwood Ross of Global Research interviewed 100 people and 53 of them identified themselves as Democrats, 15 as independents and 32 as Republicans. Eleven of the 15 independent voters cast their ballots for Obama. From the 100 people interviewed, 67 voted for Obama and 33 for McCain.
Nine of the 100 voters interviewed voted against their party.
Global Research quotes people giving their reasons:
''Two of the nine said they were registered Democrats that crossed over to McCain and seven said they are registered Republicans that crossed over to Obama. Both McCain's crossovers were men over 40. One said, ''I'm afraid of going towards socialism'' and the other said, ''I didn't like Obama's associations.''Among Republicans that switched to Obama, one said, ''I can't begin to enumerate. Let's just say 'leadership.''' Others cited the Iraq war and /or the economy as their reasons.''
Miami has added 184,514 new voters to its rolls since 2004 which brings total registration to 1,243,315. How many actually vote in the two southern counties of Florida (Miami-Dade and Broward counties) and if the votes are counted correctly might determine who wins the state of Florida.
Ross reported that Obama was getting strong support from women, students and African-Americans. One African-American woman said that she was a Republican but voted for Obama because she has problems with McCain's personal life.
Ross from
Global Research interviewed 50 women and 36 said that they voted for Obama as compared to 14 for McCain. Many of the women interviewed voted for Obama because they oppose the Iraq war and are upset with the bad economy.
Six of the students interviewed from the University of Miami voted for Obama. The campus is adorned with Obama stickers.
The main message from McCain supporters is that he is better qualified and has more experience than Obama. Many McCain voters don't trust Obama either.
Sherwood Ross from
Global Research quoted some McCain supporters:
''One man of about 50 said, ''I don't think Obama is straightforward. I think he's got a lot of things hidden. David Smith, a senior citizen from Coral Gables, said, ''McCain's experienced. Our Number One fear is terrorism and he's stronger on that and on defense.'' One woman, though, Eris Gonzales of Coral Gables and a lifelong Republican, said she voted for McCain because ''I heard Obama was a Muslim.''
Republican legislators in Florida pushed a bill three years ago that would limit early voting hours from 12 to eight. They proposed it as a way to save money. Former GOP governor and presidential brother Jeb Bush signed the measure into law in 2005. The Republicans wanted uniform standards. It passed 82-36 in the Florida House. Democrats failed at amendments to expand the voting hours.
House Minority Dan Gelber characterized the motives behind the bill:
''They were using their power, their majority, to make it harder for people to vote, to gain a political advantage. It was horrible.''
Only libraries, city halls and election headquarters can be used as voting sites. Miami-Dade opens up at 7 a.m. and stops taking voters at 3 p.m. Broward's early voting precincts are open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. during the week. A total of eight hours of voting is permitted over the weekend.
Lester Sola is the Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections. He has begged unsuccessfully to state representatives and senators in Tallahassee to give local election officials more flexibility regarding voting locations. He is required to provide a list of polling sites to the state 30 days before the Election Day.
The McClatchy Washington bureau quoted Sola:
''Why overwhelm a library when you have a large regional park next door? We had a lot more flexibility before.''
20 polling sites are open in Miami-Dade for early voting with 9,000 trained poll workers at a cost of $6 million. 765 precincts will be open on Election Day. Many voting machines are currently in storage and aren't being used now because not enough sites are available for them to be used now. This is one of the reasons why people have been waiting for hours in line to vote.
Democratic Representative Kendrick Meek of Miami suggested that people who are waiting long in line should be offered mail-in ballots instead. Sola said that he isn't going to push one type of voting method over another.
The county's elections website will be updated continuously telling people where there are shorter lines available. Broward County is showing people expected wait times for voting on their website.
