50 Days: Louisiana- Strong McCain

With fifty days until the election, Louisiana is Strong McCain. According to pollster.com, McCain leads 52.8% to Obama's 37.6%.

Although Louisiana is considered a 'battleground state,' the past two presidential elections have indicated that the state is turning red. In both the 1992 and 1996 presidential elections in LA, the state voted for Bill Clinton; 46% to 41%, and 52% to 40 %. In the last two presidential elections, the state has voted for George Bush; 53% to 45%, and 57% to 42%. Currently http://www.electoral-vote.com/ says that McCain is ahead in LA 55% to 38%. Both polls indicate that it is clear that Louisiana will most likely stay on the same track they have been on in the last two elections, and will vote for the Republican Nominee.

McCain is backed by 87% of Republicans and 30% of Democrats in Louisiana. Obama earns support from just 57% of Democrats and 8% of Republicans. Among unaffiliated voters, McCain tops Obama 50% to 27%. McCain leads 68% to 19% among White voters while Obama is supported by 92% of African-Americans. McCain leads 60% to 30% among men and 50% to 37% among women. (http://www.usaelectionpolls.com/2008/polls/Louisiana-Obama-McCain-March-2008.html) While Obama is supported by 92% of African Americans in LA, many of the African Americans who reside in LA have lost homes and cars, which will affect their turn-out at the polls on November 4th. Many of them will not have the transportation, or the money to get to the polls. While this is true, there is another election in LA that may positivly affect voter turnout in LA for Obama- the senate race between Mary Landrieu (D) and John Kennedy (R). But, while Landrieu's voters may turn out, some suggest that some of her supporters are not supporters of Obama. According to (http://www.usaelectionpolls.com/2008/polls/Louisiana-Obama-McCain-March-2008.html) numbers indicate Landrieu might be better off if Obama did not campaign in Louisiana, partly because Landrieu's overall favorability rating is 53 percent among white voters while Obama's is only 26 percent. Obama's "very unfavorable" rating with white voters is 55 percent.

Although Hurricane Gustav has moved the primaries for local races, it will have no affect on the senate race because neither the republican challenger or the democratic incumbment have challengers. Basically Nov. 4th turn out will be decided by the presidential race, and because McCain is ahead by so much, it will be up to Kennedy (R) to get McCains voters on his side as well.

Although issues such as the economy and national security are among the top in LA, the natives have other issues that are just as important to them. Taking into account that Louisiana loses 2 football fields of coastal wetlands every 6 minutes, coastal erosion is a major issue. This also affects the issue of energy, because a secure coast could mean energy independence. This brings me to a third very important issue- offshore drilling. Senator Landrieu managed to get Louisiana a share of the federal offshore monies and the more drilling off the shore of Louisiana, the more money into the state coffers for repairing our coast. And of course, other major issues in LA include more attention to hurricane protection (getting the levees rebuilt, better fema responses, and better insurance coverage.) With all of these issues at hand, LA clearly wants a canidate who has expeirence and knowledge when it comes to handeling crisis situations, and this is why they support John McCain as their president.