Polls: Less-educated whites hurt Obama

A CLINTON ADVANTAGE OVER OBAMA IN NOVEMBER, THOUGH MCCAIN DOES BEST OF ALL

According to an Associated Press-Yahoo News poll in April, the certain Republican presidential nominee John McCain would get more votes than Hillary Rodham Clinton from white voters who have not finished college, 43 percent to 30 percent. Barack Obama would do even worse than Clinton, trailing McCain with this group 44 percent to 22 percent. McCain has a 23-percentage point lead against Clinton among whites who have graduated college, but just an eight-point margin over Obama with that group.

DEMOCRATIC CONTEST TAKES ITS TOLL

Obama was viewed unfavorably in April by 53 percent of whites without college degrees, up from 41 percent in November's AP-Yahoo poll. Clinton's negative ratings with that group have not really changed, but have not gotten better, either. Fifty-seven percent of these voters had unfavorable views of Clinton in November, and 55 percent did in April. McCain's negative views from them sat at 32 percent both months.

HOW RACE AND EDUCATION AFFECT THE RACE

Exit polls of voters in last month's Pennsylvania Democratic primary show the impact of racial attitudes. Forty-seven percent of whites without college degrees who said race was an important factor in choosing a candidate said they would vote for Obama in an Obama-McCain matchup, with 29 percent saying they would back McCain and 20 percent saying they would not vote. Obama gets the votes of 62 percent of whites who have not finished college who said race was not a factor.

Among white college graduates, 69 percent who said race is a factor said they would vote for Obama. Eighty-one percent who said race is not important would back him.

IT'S ALSO ABOUT AGE ...

According to the AP-Yahoo poll, 22 percent of whites who have not finished college are under age 30, compared to 29 percent that young with college degrees. Also, 19 percent of the less-educated whites are age 65 or more, compared to 10 percent of those with degrees who are that old. Both mean advantages for Clinton, who attracts older voters.

... AND INCOME

Sixty-one percent of whites without college degrees are from households earning less than $50,000 a year, compared to 47 percent who have finished college. And only 6 percent of whites with less than a college education earn more than $100,000 annually, compared to 17 percent with degrees. Obama tends to attract the most affluent voters, Clinton the poorest.

YES, IT'S A PROBLEM

Other surveys also illustrate Obama's problem with less-educated white voters. A poll released last week by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center showed that Clinton's lead over Obama among whites who have not completed college, which was 10 percentage points in March, has grown to 40 points. And another by Quinnipiac University showed that while Clinton tied Republican candidate John McCain among these voters in Florida and had slight leads in Ohio and Pennsylvania, McCain had sizable leads over Obama with them in Florida and Ohio and a smaller one in Pennsylvania.

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