Poll: Swing state voters still suffering

• Tweet

PRINCETON, N.J., Aug. 20 (UPI) -- A majority of voters in states critical in the November presidential election say they are no better off than they were in 2008.

The latest Swing State poll conducted for USA Today finds that voters there feel their economic situation has charged very little since last fall, Gallup reported.

Some 55 percent of potential voters in 12 states said they were not better off than four years ago, while 42 percent said they were.

Breaking down the results, 50 percent of independent voters said they were not better off, a feeling voiced by 36 percent of Democrats and 84 percent of Republicans.

While such sentiments could affect President Obama's re-election chances, most voters who said they were not better off did not blame him alone. Some 20 percent of swing state voters said they blamed Obama exclusively, while another 15 percent laid the problem on both Obama and George W. Bush. Another 21 percent did not point the finger at Obama, including 7 percent who felt Bush alone should shoulder all the responsibility.

The poll was conducted in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin.