The meat of this poll is not in the numbers however. The comments made to newspaper reporters by some Ohio residents are sickening.
The Ohio polls are all over the place. One has Obama up. Another has him down.
The Ohio News Organization's poll released Sunday has McCain up 48-42. The organization represents the largest newspapers in the state including the Toledo Blade, Cleveland Plain Dealer and Columbus Dispatch.
The article accompanying the poll, however, paints a sickening picture of the racial attitudes present in communities in the state.
‘The color of Mr. Obama’s skin — he will not carry this area,’ said William Nesselrode, 64, of Stockport, in southeast Ohio. He said that in his community, people who support Mr. Obama put their signs in a field, rather than their yard, apparently out of fear of being affiliated with him.
‘Down here, Friday afternoon is when you wash the sheets. Saturday is when you hang them out. Sunday is when you wear them,’ he said.
Obama supporter Elizabeth Snyder, 37, of Greenfield, in southern Ohio, also was pessimistic about Mr. Obama’s chances of winning.
‘There’s a lot of prejudiced people out there. I’m not one of them. If it’s not a reporter asking the question, they’ll say it’s because of his color,’ Ms. Snyder said.
She said she tries to correct people when she hears them question Mr. Obama’s American nationality, but ‘you wind up in an argument over it.’