Poll: Obama's base of support wider

HAMDEN, Conn., Oct. 23 (UPI) -- The poor economy and uncertain future has broadened Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Barack Obama's appeal to voters, a pollster said Thursday.

"Voters are scared about their economic futures and have decided that Senator Obama is Mr. Fix-it," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

Quinnipiac released a poll of the three largest swing states -- Florida, and Ohio Pennsylvania. Obama led in all three, although McCain appeared to have closed the gap somewhat in Florida, reducing the Democrat's lead to 5 percent.

Brown said that Obama is no longer the candidate of the "the young, the well-educated and minorities."

"Perhaps the most remarkable development is that Obama is doing significantly better among white, born-again evangelicals in Ohio and Pennsylvania than did Democratic nominee John Kerry four years ago," Brown added. He also is winning Roman Catholics in those states, historically the key swing voter group in the electorate and synonymous here with the blue-collar vote.

"If these numbers hold up, he could win the biggest Democratic landslide since Lyndon Johnson in 1964," Brown said.