Most Voters Worry About Economy

Nearly three in 10 voters singled out the president as the principal reason the country is in its current economic straits. Wall Street financial institutions and banks followed closely on the blame list. Voters also mention the government, Congress, Republicans, Democrats, overextended home buyers and others as root causes.

As for Monday's ill-fated House vote, poll respondents, by a 2 to 1 ratio, hold congressional Republicans more responsible for the rejection of the package supported by Bush, McCain, Obama and congressional leaders of both parties.

Public assessments of who is a "safe" pick for the presidency have shifted. Compared with a June poll, slightly more voters now call Obama a safe choice than said so of McCain (55 percent to 51 percent). Obama ticked up from 50 percent to 55 percent over past three months on that question, with the increase almost entirely among Democrats. McCain dropped from 57 percent to 51 percent, with independents contributing to the decline.

Almost all voters consider the current financial situation a big problem, with a majority, 52 percent, describing it as a crisis. And in a question asked of a parallel sample of randomly selected adults on Monday evening after the House's rejection, voters were also nearly unanimous in their concern that the vote would deepen the financial downturn.

In the Monday night poll, voters were evenly divided -- 45 percent in favor, 47 percent opposed -- on the economic package proposed by the administration and altered by congressional negotiators. Forty-four percent said Republicans were responsible for the House defeat, 21 percent held Democrats accountable and 17 percent said the parties were equally responsible.

One reason behind the division on the rescue plan is that few voters said it did "the right amount" for financial institutions, the economy or for "ordinary Americans." Moreover, voters split about evenly on whether the plan did too much or too little for financial firms that got into trouble, nearly half said it did not do enough to jump-start the economy and more than six in 10 said it did not adequately protect average people.

After the House vote and a nearly 800-point drop in the Dow Jones industrial average, voters expressed only tepid confidence in the government's ability to solve the problem, with 51 percent saying they were confident government action could prevent the situation from getting worse, and 47 percent saying they were not.

With the economy remaining the campaign's top issue, Obama continues to get a boost from perceived advantages on the topic among the full poll sample. He holds a large lead among the 51 percent of voters who prioritize economic issues and has a clear edge as the candidate more in tune with the voters' financial concerns. Obama also still has a double-digit advantage on fixing the problems with major financial institutions.

Obama trails McCain among white voters by 13 percentage points in the new poll -- similar to Democratic Sen. John F. Kerry's deficit in 2004 -- but runs significantly better among those who are pessimistic about the country's and their family's economic future.

But alongside Obama's edge on the economy, McCain has made small but consistent gains on foreign policy following the presidential debate, regaining ground he had temporarily ceded to his rival.

McCain has now nudged ahead as the candidate better able to handle international affairs, the war in Iraq, terrorism and an unexpected major crisis.

McCain also now runs evenly with Obama on the question of who would do more to work with members of the other party in Congress next year. In late August, Obama held a 12-point advantage in that area, but now the two are nearly tied, with 47 percent saying McCain would do a better job dealing with both Democrats and Republicans and 45 percent saying Obama. Most of McCain's gains on this question came from Republicans, but independents also tipped toward him.