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Title: Ohio Among Six Battleground States With Lower Joblessness
Source:
Bloomberg
URL Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012- ... es-with-lower-joblessness.html
Published: Oct 19, 2012
Author: Michelle Jamrisko
Post Date: 2012-10-19 11:23:09 by Brian S
Keywords: None
Views: 1435
Comments: 1
Ohio was among six of eight states considered U.S. presidential election battlegrounds that showed a September drop in unemployment, according to Labor Department data less than three weeks before voters head to the polls. The jobless rate in Ohio declined to 7 percent in September from 7.2 percent a month earlier, the agency said today in Washington. Unemployment also fell in Wisconsin, Colorado, Florida, Iowa and Nevada. The rate was unchanged from August in New Hampshire and Virginia. Joblessness in five of the states is less than the national average of 7.8 percent. Labor-market developments in the swing states may help influence undecided voters as they determine whether to re-elect President Barack Obama or opt for a different policy prescription for the economy and choose Republican challenger Mitt Romney. The latest daily Gallup poll of likely voters showed Romney with a seven-point lead after being tied at the beginning of the month. “The economy is the most important thing in the election and the most important thing that voters care about,” even as the debate has turned to other issues, said Stephen Hess, a presidential historian at the Washington-based Brookings Institution. Romney campaign staff “are probably hoping against hope there won’t be any more good news” on the economy, said Hess, who served in the administrations of Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon and as an adviser to Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter. Polls taken during the past week have shown the former Massachusetts governor narrowing or eliminating the president’s lead in most battleground states. Romney picked up momentum after winning the first debate on Oct. 3 in Denver. A Labor Department report earlier this month showed the nation’s unemployment rate dropped in September from 8.1 percent a month earlier. The October data are scheduled to be released Nov. 2, four days before the election. Employers added jobs in five of eight electoral swing states in September. Payrolls in Virginia climbed 11,500 and Nevada showed a 7,100 pickup. Employment decreased 12,800 in Ohio, while New Hampshire and Iowa also showed declines. Obama leads Romney in Ohio, 51 percent to 45 percent, according to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist College poll of 1,410 likely voters in the state conducted Oct. 7-9. The previous survey covering Sept. 30-Oct. 1 showed an eight-point lead for Obama. No Republican has won the White House without carrying Ohio. A candidate needs 270 Electoral College votes for the presidency. The eight swing states have a combined total of 95 electoral votes. Obama won each of them in 2008. Unemployment fell to 7.3 percent in Wisconsin last month from 7.5 percent in August, dropped to 8.7 percent from 8.8 percent in Florida, and decreased in Iowa to 5.2 percent from 5.5 percent. The rate Nevada, which has the highest unemployment among U.S. states, dropped to 11.8 percent from 12.1 percent. The rate in New Hampshire was 5.7 percent in September for a second month. In Virginia, unemployment held at 5.9 percent. Businesses continue to face hurdles for hiring with weak global demand and uncertainties surrounding the so-called fiscal cliff -- more than $600 billion in federal spending cuts and tax increases scheduled to take effect in January unless Congress acts. A USA Today/Gallup poll of all likely voters released Oct. 15 for 12 politically competitive states showed Romney holding a 4-percentage-point lead over Obama, 50 percent to 46 percent. The national daily Gallup tracking poll of likely voters for the period Oct. 11-17 has Romney leading 52 percent to 45 percent. The margin of error is two percentage points. State and local employment data are derived independently from the national statistics, which are typically released on the first Friday of every month. The state figures are subject to larger sampling errors because they come from smaller surveys, making the national figures more reliable, according to the government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employers nationwide added 114,000 jobs last month, after a revised 142,000 gain in August that was larger than initially estimated, Labor Department data showed on Oct. 5. The unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to 7.8 percent, breaking a 43-month streak of joblessness above 8 percent -- the longest stretch in the post-World War II era. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a rise to 8.2 percent from 8.1 percent. Private service providers and construction companies added positions, while factories trimmed headcounts. Including the September gain, the U.S. has recovered 4.3 million of the 8.8 million jobs lost as a result of the 18-month recession that ended in June 2009.
Romney Momentum
Swing States
Gallup Poll
National Unemployment
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