Reznet

Poll of Native Voters Finds 80-Point Lead for Obama

By Native Vote Washington

Native Vote Washington conducted a poll of 600 American Indian and Alaska Native voters from 30 states, including Washington, Arizona, New Mexico, Montana and Oklahoma.

The poll examined voter preference in the Presidential race between Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama and Republican nominee Sen. John McCain. The poll also examined voter attitude with respect to "right track" versus "wrong track." The sample was drawn from a pool of likely voters and those who had already voted.

Among Native voters in the poll, Obama leads McCain by 83 points. Among Natives who have already cast ballots, Obama leads his opponent by 85 points.

Among Native American men, Obama leads by 86 points. Among women, Obama leads by 80 points, leading pollsters to conclude that there is no significant gender gap between Native female and male voters.

Obama does well across all age ranges but performs best among younger Native voters. Among Natives ages 18 to 34, Obama leads by 91 percent; among Natives ages 35 to 54, Obama leads by 83 percent; and among Natives ages 55 and over, Obama leads by 84 percent.

Among Washington Native voters, Obama leads by 91 points. Surprisingly, in Arizona, Obama leads by 60 points. Oklahoma appears to be McCain's strongest state where he runs even with Obama at 42 percent. In the battleground state of New Mexico, Obama has a 72 point lead. Finally, in Montana, Obama leads by 94 points with more Undecideds (3 percent) than McCain supporters (2 percent).

The poll also asked voters, "At this moment, do you believe our country is on the right track or the wrong track?" Only 3 percent of respondents said the country was on the "right track," 87 percent answered "wrong track" and 10 percent were undecided.

Methodology: Native Vote Washington Poll contacted over 700 adult Native Americans attending the National Indian Education Association annual convention in Seattle on October 23-25. The Poll excluded “somewhat likely” as well as “not likely” and “Not Native” voter respondents. The Poll surveyed Native Americans from 30 states by direct in-person contact using volunteers and NVW staff in attendance at the NIEA convention. Survey respondents were chosen at random from a registered convention attendance figure of approximately 3,000 attendees. Adults in each sample were adjusted as needed to census proportions of sex and age. The margin of sampling error for adults and likely voters is plus or minus 4 percentage points. For smaller subsets such as States, the margin of error may be greater.

Native Vote Washington is a non-partisan, non-profit corporation founded in Washington State in 2008 for the purpose of increasing the participation of Native American voters in the election process, and to educate the general public on issues of importance, needs, and rights of Native Americans. Washington is home to 29 federally recognized tribes with an estimated Voting Age Population of more than 120,000 Native Americans.