Poll: Voters Blaming Republicans Over Democrats for Economic Crisis

Daily News Staff

Republicans are taking the elephant's share of the blame when it comes to the current crisis rocking the nation's financial institutions and Wall St., according to a new national poll.

In a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey of registered voters released Monday, 47 percent blamed Republicans for the current financial crisis the stock market. By contract, only 24 percent blamed the Democrats, with 20 percent saying both parties were to blame and 8 percent not blaming either party.

That has translated to good news for Sen. Barack Obama, as the poll found that more Americans think the Democratic presidential nominee would do a better job navigating the economic landscape than his rival, Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

Forty nine percent of responders thought Obama would better handle the crisis to 43 percent for McCain.

The poll found that fifty-one percent of registered voters are now backing Obama, while 46 percent support McCain, a swing since the last CNN/Opinion Research survey in early September when the two candidates were tied at 48 percent.

"In two core McCain constituencies: men, who now narrowly favor Obama, and seniors, who have also flipped from McCain to Obama," said CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider.

The poll's margin of error is 4.5 percentage points.

With wire reports

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