2008 Presidential Poll

WASHINGTON (AFP) — White House foes Barack Obama and John McCain traded new shots over the limping US economy Monday, each hoping to connect with voters on the top campaign issue, less than four months from election day.

Each candidate accused the other of misleading Americans over their tax policies, and of advocating strategies that would hinder growth in a grim period of rising job losses, soaring energy costs and a housing crisis.

After scuffling over Iraq last week, Republican McCain and Democrat Obama were set for a week-long duel on the economy, which polls show is the premier concern of voters heading into the election on November 4.

“You’re working harder than ever to pay bills that are getting bigger than ever, and there’s not much left over at the end of the month,” Obama said, in remarks released ahead of an appearance in Charlotte, North Carolina.

“You’re trying to juggle the demands of work and family … for millions of families, these everyday worries and long-term anxieties have grown considerably worse over the last year.”

Obama’s plane was however forced to make an unscheduled landing in St. Louis, Missouri, en route to Charlotte, owing to a mechanical problem, and it was not clear whether his speech would go ahead as planned.

McCain was also making an attempt to sympathize with the struggles of voters in the heartland.

“Americans are having a tough time, but we’ve been through worse, and beaten longer odds,” McCain said in portions of a speech he was due to deliver in Denver, Colorado, venue for the Democratic national convention in August.

“All you’ve ever asked of government is that it stand on your side, not in your way.

“I intend to do just that: to stand on your side; to help business and not government create jobs; to fight for your future and not the personal ambitions of politicians and bureaucrats.”

Obama vowed to spread the benefits of globalization, make sure free trade pacts included labor standards to protect US workers from cut-price overseas economies and promised to ease the tax burden on the middle class.

“Senator McCain said earlier this year that America has made ‘great progress economically’ over the past eight years,” he said.

“He believes we are on the right track, and he’s launching a new economic tour today with policies that are very much the same as those we have seen from the Bush administration.”

McCain meanwhile released a statement from more than 300 professional economists, praising his economic blueprint as a “comprehensive, pro-growth, reform agenda.”

The Arizona Senator argued that Obama would raise taxes on American workers, small businesses and families, a contention the Obama campaign rejected.

“Senator Obama’s tax increases will hurt the economy even more, and destroy jobs across this country,” McCain said.

Senator McCain was set to promise he would balance the US federal budget in four years, Politico.com reported.

Recent opinion polls and exit polls from the Republican and Democratic primary races show that the economy is the issue most pre-occupying voters.

A CNN/Opinion Research survey last month for instance found that 58 percent of Americans thought the economy was extremely important, compared to 50 percent who thought that Iraq was extremely important.

Economic woes are especially vexing in key battleground states like Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania, which have lost tens of thousands of jobs in recent years.

Neither candidate appears to have yet carved out a decisive edge on the economy, and both are expected to hammer the issue in the run-up to the election.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 7th, 2008 at 5:44 pm and is filed under Political Article. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.