Survey: Swing State Voters No Better Off Than in 2008

(Newsroom America) -- A new USA Today/Gallup survey on Monday found that most voters in crucial swing states say they are no better off now than they were in 2008, but they remain divided on who would best provide them opportunities to improve by 2016.

The survey said 56 percent of respondents aid they weren't better off, compared to 40 percent who said they were.

Those results were similar for all registered voters, Gallup said; 55 percent say they are no better off now than four years ago, compared to 42 percent who say they are.

"Presidential candidate Ronald Reagan famously asked Americans, in a 1980 presidential debate, if they were better off than four years ago. Shortly thereafter, he decisively defeated incumbent Jimmy Carter in the presidential election," Gallup said in an analysis of the survey posted on the company's Web site.

"The question is relevant again in 2012 as Barack Obama seeks a second term as president with the economy still struggling to recover from the 2008-2009 recession. The fact that the majority of voters in the crucial states that will decide the election believe they are not better off is a challenge for the Obama campaign," Gallup said.

Despite that, however, voters are not convinced they'll be better off with presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney. A minority - 44 percent - think they will be, but 49 percent don't think so, the survey said.

Those figures are in line with doubts about staying with President Obama; 42 percent believe their lives will improve, while 52 percent don't think so.

The results are based on the latest USA Today/Gallup Swing States poll, conducted Aug. 6-13 with a sample of 970 registered voters in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

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