Nevada Polls: John McCain with Slight Lead over Barack Obama

The competition to gain the five electoral votes of Nevada has been very tight during the past four presidential elections, and the current race appears to be shaping up the same way. According to the most recent Rasmussen Reports telephone survey, conducted on May 20, Republican John McCain is holding a slight 6-point edge over Democrat Barack Obama.

The poll reported that 46 percent of Nevada voters support McCain. While this is down slightly from April results of 48 percent, it still remains several points higher than results from the early part of 2008. Obama, on the other hand, has steadily lost 10 points from a figure of 50 percent support in February to his current 40 percent.

In other statistics, McCain is considered to be at least somewhat favorable by 53 percent of Nevada voters while Obama weighs in at 47 percent. Obama's falling trend in this area could be partly due to lack of support in his own party. According to the same poll, only 65 percent of the Democrats in Nevada claim support for Obama.

Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton still maintains a large following in the state of Nevada, and there are many who hold on to hope that she is not yet out of the race. Their sentiments echo those found in a recent national survey in which 29 percent of Democrats stated they would like to see Clinton on the presidential ticket in November as an Independent candidate. However, this is unlikely to happen, as CNN has reported that Clinton has given her endorsement to Obama. It will be interesting to see the effect of this public endorsement on Obama's ratings in the June polls.

One of the major local issues of concern to Nevada voters is the proposal to store spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste at the Yucca Mountain Repository, located approximately 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Originally, McCain was a very vocal supporter for this initiative. More recently at a speech in Denver, McCain has made statements that suggest he may be backing away from this stance in order to advocate the institution of an international repository. Obama has professed to be against the Yucca Mountain Repository from the beginning, and part of his campaign platform is that he will end the notion of Yucca Mountain nuclear storage.

Nevada voters are also very concerned with the state of the economy. The Rasmussen poll found that 38 percent of those surveyed believed the economy to be the most important issue in this presidential election. Obama led McCain by 25 points among those who feel this way. The Republican candidate seems to be taking steps to rectify this situation, however, as a recent press release from the McCain camp announced the launch of a new Spanish radio advertisement in Nevada that will focus on how McCain's economic plan benefits the Hispanic population and transcends traditional party lines.

References:

"Toplines - Nevada Presidential Election - May 20, 2008", Rasmussen Reports.

"38% of Democrats Want Clinton to Drop Out", Rasmussen Reports.

Carol Costello, "What will Clinton do next?", CNN.com.

"Barack Obama on the Issues", On the Issues.

Press Release, "John McCain 2008 Launches New Spanish Radio Ad in the Southwest", JohnMcCain.com.