Mixed Impressions on Taxes

"That doesn't mean we should tax them more than the working-class," Pratt said, adding that she does not personally earn a high income. McCain's promise to cut taxes "for all income brackets would probably be more fair," she said.

If voters hear any part of Obama's message, it's his vow to treat taxpayers differently depending on their income. Under his plan, lower- and middle-income workers would see large tax cuts, while families in the top 1 percent of the income scale would see an average annual tax increase of nearly $100,000, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center.

McCain, by contrast, vows to cut taxes for all families, but his plan would concentrate those benefits among the same families who would suffer under Obama. While middle-income families would see an average tax cut of about $321 under McCain, according to the Tax Policy Center, families in the top 1 percent would see an average tax cut of nearly $49,000.

McCain doesn't trumpet the uneven treatment of income groups under his plan. Obama, however, is campaigning on his plan to raises taxes for those who make more than $250,000 a year. Voters appear to have picked up on the message.

Only 37 percent of voters whose household income is less than $50,000 a year believe Obama would raise their taxes, while nearly twice that many -- 72 percent -- in households earning over $100,000 say their tax burden would rise under Obama.

There's a similar pattern for McCain: Voters with household incomes of less than $50,000 are evenly split, with 8 in 10 saying their taxes would go up or stay about the same. But voters in households making over $100,000 overwhelmingly believe their tax rates would stay steady with McCain in the White House.

Scott Reed, who managed Bob Dole's 1996 presidential campaign, said that's no accident. By repeatedly accusing Obama of plotting broad tax increases, McCain has simply outmaneuvered Obama on the issue, he said.

"McCain had a successful summer in that he did two things: He framed the race that Obama wants to raise your taxes, and Obama doesn't want to do anything about energy consumption," Reed said. "Then he picked Palin, and now he's in the race."

But Tad Devine, a Democratic strategist who crafted the message for the 2004 presidential campaign of Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), said any Democrat would be at a disadvantage on the issue of taxes because Republicans have for years effectively painted them as the tax-and-spend party.

"There's always going to be 30 percent of the people who believe a Democrat will raise their taxes," Devine said. The key for Obama, he said, is making sure the people with open minds recognize that he has a different message.

"Taxes are a very important issue in this election. Obama's got a real plan to help people," he said. "And I think that's something that's worth taking head-on."

The poll was conducted by telephone Sept. 5 to 7 among a random national sample of 1,133 adults, including interviews with 961 registered voters. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points for registered voters.

Polling director Jon Cohen contributed to this report.