Final Ohio Poll predicts Obama win John Byrne

Published: Monday November 3, 2008





Print This Email This The final Ohio Poll conducted by the Institute for Policy Research at the University of Cincinnati predicts that Sen. Barack Obama will likely win Ohio's 20 electoral votes.



When allocating undecided voters to the candidates they are most likely to support, Obama leads with 51.5 percent of voters to 45.7 percent for McCain. The poll mirrors that of other recent Ohio polls, which show a slim margin for Obama.



An average of the latest Reuters, Quinnipiac and Mason-Dixon polls give Obama an average lead of 3.6 percent, with 48.3 percent supporting Obama to McCain's 44.7 percent.



The Real Clear Politics average of the polls has shown Obama ahead every day since Oct. 1.



Quinnipiac's poll reported that Palin is hurting McCain in the state.



"Palin is a drag on the Republican ticket in Ohio. Her favorability is a negative 41 percent to 45 percent, while Biden is viewed favorably, 48 percent to 33 percent," the Columbus Dispatch wrote. "Still, voters said McCain's association with President Bush hurts him more than his selection of Palin."



The Ohio Poll surveyed 1,308 probable voters between Oct. 29 - Nov. 2, with a 2.7 percent margin of error.



The results are a dramatic turnaround for Obama since September, when McCain held a four point lead, and nearly a quarter of voters remained undecided. Ohio's electoral voters were allocated to President George W. Bush in 2004, after a hotly contested battle in the state.



Another poll also shows Obama ahead, this time by six points.



"The final Columbus Dispatch poll released Sunday shows Obama ahead of McCain by 6-percentage points, 52 percent to 46 percent," the Enquirer noted. "That's about the same margin for Obama the poll found last month."



"The Dispatch poll was conducted by mail of 2,164 likely voters Oct. 22 through Friday, with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2 percentage points."





