GOP Candidate Beats Obama in Swing States on Jobs, Deficit

Swing-state voters are more likely to say a "Republican candidate" for president would do better than President Obama on handling the deficit, and are slightly more likely to choose the Republican on the issue of unemployment. Voters are evenly split between the two on healthcare and terrorism.

These "swing state" results are from the first USA Today/Gallup Swing States poll, based on Oct. 20-27 Gallup Daily tracking in 12 states that will be among the most crucial to winning the 2012 presidential election. The states include Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Obama and the leading Republican candidates are competitive in terms of registered voter support in these states, and Republicans in these states are more enthusiastic about voting than are Democrats.

Economy Most Important Issue in Swing States

Obama's relative weakness on unemployment is potentially the most important of the four issues measured in this survey, given that 90% of voters in these swing states rate the condition of the national economy as "only fair" or "poor," and 72% say the economy is getting worse. Gallup has also found that nationally, Americans overwhelmingly name economic issues as the country's most important problem, as do national adults living in these 12 swing states.
Additionally, 60% of swing-state voters say they and their families are not better off than they were three years ago -- when Obama was elected president -- while 37% say they are. (Continues here)