Barack Obama widening lead in Florida
Barack Obama has opened up a 49-42 percent lead over John McCain in Florida, according to a new Miami Herald poll showing the Democrat earns high marks on the economy and is drawing significant support from the swing voters who decide elections in the nation's largest swing state.
Boosting Obama: independent voters, who back him over McCain by a 57-22 percent margin -- a 38-point shift toward the Democrat since the last poll in September. Both were conducted for The Miami Herald, St. Petersburg Times and Bay News 9 by SEA Polling and Strategic Design and The Polling Co.
The poll shows multiple hurdles are in McCain's way:
• He is losing in Southwest Florida, a once-reliable Republican base. And he's ahead in only one region: conservative North Florida, by 7 percentage points.
• Obama has tied McCain among voters over 65 years old. They backed McCain by seven more percentage points than Obama in last month's poll, which was taken just as news of the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy precipitated the economic crisis.
• Only 35 percent of Floridians polled say McCain demonstrated more leadership during the crisis and has a better plan to fix it. Compare that to the 45 percent who say Obama demonstrated better leadership and almost half of all voters who say Obama has a better economic plan.
Obama widening lead in Florida
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