Only 34% of Arizonans believe that McCain can get us out of Iraq and unable to revive the economy.

Phoenix, Arizona. - Fewer than four in ten Arizonans believe John McCain is the best candidate among contenders for President of the United States to deal with the two top issues of the day:getting the U.S. out of Iraq or helping revive the U.S. economy.

The more defining of the two issues is who voters think is most likely to get the U.S. out of Iraq. As of the time of this survey, fifty percent of the nominations go to the Democrat candidates, and particularly to Barack Obama. Only 34 percent nominate theRepublican John McCain. Another 16 percent doubt that any of the three are well equipped to get the U.S. out of Iraq.
In general it appears that voters here have more confidence in the Democratic candidates which may in part explain the competitiveness of the Presidential race in this state.

Favorite son John McCain only leads his potential Democratic rivals by 11 to 15 percentage points, with Barack Obama nipping closest at his heels.It also appears that among those with greater confidence in the Democrats and that of the two, candidate Obama has defined himself in a more appealing way than has Clinton.

Confidence in his ability to extricate the U.S. from Iraq is roughly three to two over Clinton in all age groups and rises to a more impressive 47 to 32 among Democratic voters. Among the one fifth of Republicans who do not believe McCain would do the best job, Obama is given the nod over Clinton by three to one.

On the issue of who would do the best job improving the U.S. economy, McCain does better, attracting 38 percent of the nominations compared to 41 percent combined nominations for the two Democrats.

Here again, however, Obama out polls Clinton across all voter subgroups. On the economy, however, it is also clear that older voters have more confidence in McCain, particularly those over 55 years of age. Also evident throughout the data is the fact that McCain is in deep trouble with women voters. Only 31 percent look favorably on his ability to manage the economy and only 28 percent think he is the best equipped to get the US out of Iraq.