McCain gains

Washington Post:

Republican John McCain has quickly closed the gap between himself and Democratic rival Sen. Barack Obama in several key battleground states even as the Arizona senator struggles to break through the wall-to-wall coverage of Obama's trip to Europe and the Middle East this week.

McCain and Obama are in a statistical dead heat in Colorado, Michigan and Minnesota while the Illinois senator has a more comfortable double-digit edge in Wisconsin, according to polling conducted by Quinnipiac University for washingtonpost.com and the Wall Street Journal during the past week. Only in Colorado, however, does McCain hold a greater percentage of the vote share than Obama.

The economy is still the dominant concern of voters in each state. Nearly six in ten respondents in Michigan, a state crippled by the dire problems of the auto industry, cited the economy as the single most important issue in their decision this fall. The war in Iraq ranked second in terms of voter priorities but was named by less than one in five respondents in each state. Potential hot button issues such as terrorism and illegal immigration were cited by fewer than 10 percent of voters in ranking their top priorities.

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One possible reason is the campaign's focus over the last month on the war in Iraq and national security concerns more broadly. McCain's campaign has hammered home the idea that Obama was mistaken in his opposition to the surge of U.S. troops last year and is wrong now about his proposed 16-month timetable for withdrawing troops.

Voters in all four states seem to agree. Asked whether they would prefer a "fixed date" for withdrawal or to "keep troops in Iraq until the situation is more stable," majorities in all four states preferred the latter option despite the fact that similar majorities in each state say that America was wrong to go to war in Iraq.

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Strangely the poll did not discuss energy policy the number one issue in the country right now and the issue where Democrats are in the most trouble. Their no energy policies have caught up with them but apparently have not caught up with the pollsters for the WaPo.

I have argued all along that only about 30 percent of voters supported Obama's rigid time table for defeat. It goes to another question about the war that pollsters have been reluctant to ask, "Do you want to lose the war in Iraq?" That is certainly a question that Democrats like Obama have been hoping to dodge or finesse, but it is clear that last year he was willing to accept defeat and even genocide in Iraq and that should trouble voters.

Other issues where Democrats are on the wrong side of the voters include higher taxes and bigger government. Where Republicans are in trouble on this issue is the bigger government question where they have lost the trust of voters. Too many Republicans in Congress are not willing to try to win back voter trust on this issue and it remains the biggest stumbling block to retaking Congress.

It is not the issues that are keeping Republicans down at this point it is trust.