The trust factor: McCain over Obama by a slim margin

Sen. John McCain leads Sen. Barack Obama by a slim margin in the key battleground state of Ohio, where voters say they trust McCain more than Obama and identify the most with hockey mom Sarah Palin, according to a Suffolk University poll out this morning.

The GOP “maverick” ticket of McCain and Alaska Gov. Palin led Democrat Obama and his vice president pick, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden 46 percent to 42 percent in the general election - just 56 days away, according to a poll of likely Buckeye state voters.

Likely voters told pollsters they trust McCain more than Obama - 49 percent to 41 percent.

David Paleologos, director of the Political Research Center at Suffolk University in Boston, said Ohio voters are likely more trusting of McCain because of the popularity of his “Straight Talk Express,” and because Obama is still suffering from the smearing slugfest during Democratic primary battle with Hillary Clinton.

“What Obama needs to do is he needs to get back on message and get back on talking about McCain and trust and Bush. That’s it,” Paleologos said.

Obama remained strong on other fronts, Paleologos said.

Forty percent of voters believe Obama understands and cares about their problems, while just 22 percent believe McCain and Palin empathize with them. And, Ohio likely voters believe Obama has the best plan to bring jobs to Ohio by a split of 40 percent to 29 percent.

“With that as a backdrop the only thing he needs to do is break down that staunch advantage McCain has on trust,” he said.

Obama also has to overcome the Palin factor.

Buckeye voters told pollsters that they identify more with Palin than any other candidate.

When asked which of the four candidates is “most like you,” 31 percent said Palin, 22 percent said Obama, 21 percent said McCain and 13 percent said Biden.

Voters also said they think that McCain is more likely to fulfill his pledge to lower taxes - 41 percent to 31 percent.

Ohio likely voters also ranked the issues most important to them: Economy and jobs, 38 percent; Iraq War, 14 percent; health care, 13 percent; moral values, 10 percent; taxes, 9 percent; and terrorism, 8 percent.

The poll of 600 likely Ohio voters was conducted Wednesday through Saturday. The margin of error is plus or minus 4 percent. All respondents from the Ohio statewide survey were likely voters.
jfargen@bostonherald.com