Democrats expecting an Obama landslide

Washington, Oct.10 : Democratic strategists are reportedly quite optimistic that the ongoing economic crisis in the United States will fetch a landslide victory for their presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Four large states John McCain once seemed well-positioned to win-Virginia, North Carolina, Ohio and Florida-have in recent weeks shifted toward Obama. If Obama were to win those four states-a scenario that would represent a remarkable turn of events-he would likely surpass 350 electoral votes, reports CBS.

Under almost any feasible scenario, McCain cannot win the presidency if he loses any of those four states, and if Obama actually captured all four states, it would almost certainly signal a strong electoral tide that would likely sweep the Southwestern swing states-Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada-not to mention battlegrounds from New Hampshire to Iowa to Missouri.

According to Democratic strategist Paul Maslin, a month ago he thought that Obama might at best earn a slight majority as in 1976, but now with the economy collapsing around anxious Americans, he sees Obama sailing through comfortably.

Gallup finds that 69 percent of Americans believe the economy is the most important issue facing the nation. The second most cited issue, the war in Iraq, is named by only 11 percent of voters.

Only one in four Americans have a positive view of the president, according to Gallup, the lowest rating of Bush's presidency.

Only nine percent of Americans are "satisfied" with the direction of the United States, the lowest level since the question was first asked by the Gallup Poll in the late 1970s.

Nearly six in ten Americans believe that the United States could be on the verge of entering an economic spiral similar to the Great Depression, according to a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll conducted over the weekend.

Multiple surveys in the past two weeks, like the CNN/ORC poll, have shown Obama with his highest-level of support in the general election.

Until September 15, Obama had only reached 50 percent support in the Gallup tracking poll once, at the peak of his Democratic convention bounce. Since September 15, Obama has at least hit 50 percent mark eight times, including for the last five days.

Tuesday, for the first time in Gallup tracking, Obama surpassed the 50 percent threshold and now leads McCain 52 to 41 percent, the largest margin of the campaign. That same tracking shows that in the last 12 days Obama's support has stabilized between 48 and 52 percent while McCain's has stabilized between 41 and 44 percent, outside the bounds of the fleeting fluctuations that gave Obama his last nine point lead following his international trip in late July.

Obama is seen in multiple polls as the more capable economic steward by double-digit margins. McCain had briefly drawn about even on the question following the GOP convention.

ANI