Poll Shows Florida Remains a Toss-up

Wed, October 22, 2008 - 9:52 AM

John McCain has nudged back ahead of Barack Obama in Florida – 46 percent to 45 percent -- according to a new presidential campaign poll by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, Inc.
Two weeks ago, a Mason-Dixon poll showed Obama held a 48-46 percent edge.

The new poll released today shows 7 percent of the Florida voters surveyed remain uncommitted, while 2 percent are for candidates other than Republican McCain or Democrat Obama.

The telephone poll of 625 registered voters was conducted Monday and Tuesday, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points, meaning the presidential race in Florida remains a statistical dead heat.

Voters give Obama a slight edge on the issue of handling the economy (45-41), as well as on managing health care (50-34) and energy policy (45-40), while McCain gets stronger marks for national security (54-37)), managing government spending and taxes (50-38) and handling the Iraq War (50-39).

The economy remains the top issue, but there has been some drop off (from 69-61), with the shift primarily coming from voters expressing increased concern about taxes and government spending.

-- Billy House, Media General News Service