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Zogby Poll Says Obama Holds Large Lead In Latest Electoral College Count
Pollster John Zogby says Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has a substantial lead over Republican John McCain in the Electoral College.
Zogby’s latest Electoral College map of the United States has Obama with 273 electoral votes to 146 for McCain.
In Zogby’s previous assessment of the Electoral College map, Obama also had 273 but McCain had 160. A candidate needs 270 electoral votes to win the presidency.
According to Zogby, 119 electoral votes are still too close to call. Said Zogby: “For the time being, Obama maintains the edge and has the strength of a majority of electoral votes. His triumphant foreign trip allows him to continue to define this race. But too many of these states are close and a sizeable number are undecided or choosing a third party candidate. So there is a lot of fluidity.”
The biggest changes in the most recent map have occurred in Florida, changing from red to purple; Arkansas, from purple to red; Arizona, from purple to red; and South Dakota, from red to purple.
(Red signifies Republican, blue Democratic, purple a close mix of the two.)
About Florida, one of the major battleground states this fall, Zogby said: “Seniors and whites provide McCain a cushion over Obama. However, no one should count votes here too soon.”
Comments
By Morgan Walker
July 24, 2008 4:53 PM | Link to this
The Obama speech is clearly a turn in American policy toward ineffable fatigue. I find myself wearied at all the coverage that continues to oscillate between fear and hope. Why so serious? Get Your War on! Stop reading the serious news, and lift yourself up with a bit of comedy news at 236.com http://www.236.com/video/2008/getyourwaronpromo_7897.php
By susan
July 25, 2008 1:12 PM | Link to this
The real issue is not how well Obama or McCain might do in the closely divided battleground states, but that we shouldn’t have battleground states and spectator states in the first place. Every vote in every state should be politically relevant in a presidential election. And, every vote should be equal. We should have a national popular vote for President in which the White House goes to the candidate who gets the most popular votes in all 50 states.
The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and DC). The bill would take effect only when enacted, in identical form, by states possessing a majority of the electoral vote — that is, enough electoral votes to elect a President (270 of 538). When the bill comes into effect, all the electoral votes from those states would be awarded to the presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and DC).
Because of state-by-state enacted rules for winner-take-all awarding of their electoral votes, recent candidates with limited funds have concentrated their attention on a handful of closely divided “battleground” states. Two-thirds of the visits and money were focused in just six states; 88% on 9 states, and 99% of the money went to just 16 states. Two-thirds of the states and people have been merely spectators to the presidential election.
Another shortcoming of the current system is that a candidate can win the Presidency without winning the most popular votes nationwide.
The National Popular Vote bill has been approved by 20 legislative chambers (one house in Colorado, Arkansas, Maine, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Washington, and two houses in Maryland, Illinois, Hawaii, California, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Vermont). It has been enacted into law in Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, and Maryland. These states have 50 (19%) of the 270 electoral votes needed to bring this legislation into effect.
See http://www.NationalPopularVote.com