Survey: Obama Expected to Better Address Housing Market Issues than McCain
By: Katie Curnutte, PR Manager | September 26, 2008
The debate is on today, and there’s certainly no shortage of issues that the presidential candidates must be prepared to contend with when one of them is elected this November. A new survey we’re putting out today shows 58% of Americans think that, between the two major candidates, Sen. Barack Obama will better address the current state of the housing market than Sen. John McCain (42%). The survey of 2,016 U.S. adults was conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Zillow.
The perception of who is better equipped to address the housing market is heavily influenced by whether respondents own a home. For example, the spread between the two major candidates is much wider among those who have yet to become homeowners: 67% of non-homeowners think Obama will better address the housing market than McCain (33%). Among current homeowners, there is far less of a difference: 52% of homeowners think Obama will better address the market versus the 48% who think McCain will.
The survey also showed housing market issues are among the top three most important issues affecting the United States that the new president should be prepared to address after taking office. The most important issues are:
- Energy/gas prices (82%)
- U.S. debt (70%)
- Housing/mortgage/foreclosure (63%)
Interesting to note, however, is that the importance of these issues varies based on which candidate respondents plan to vote for. For example, of the 41 percent who said they plan to vote for Obama in November, 71% think housing/mortgage/foreclosure issues are among the most important compared to 52% of those who plan to vote for McCain, which represents 30% of adults. According to the Zillow® survey, 14% of adults say they don’t know who they plan to vote for, 6% declined to answer and 7% say they do not plan to vote in the upcoming presidential election.
What do YOU think? Chime in with your opinion on the Zillow Discussions boards new Economic Watch tab. We’ve created a new thread “Which Candidate Do You Think Will Better Address The Current State of the Housing Market?” and would love to hear your opinion. Other hot topics inside Economic Watch include Friday’s debate and the government bailout.
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Who Will Better Address the Hoboken Housing Market Issues? Obama or McCain? on September 27, 2008 1:29 pm
[…] perceptions are on which of the candidates will better handle the housing market mess. Here’s an interesting Zillow blog post on the subject. It seems the answer given depends in part on whether the respondent favored Obama or […]
Tom Poser on September 27, 2008 2:47 pm
What is missing from this list is any reference to price of renting or owning commercial real estate and office space. These costs are not affected as quickly as residential pricing, but downturns in the economy negatively affect building values by driving down rents. Financial services firms giving back space due to lack of employees dominoes through downtown environments costing employees, landlords, retail establishments, and values.
Tom Poser
http://www.sanfranciscotenantrep.com
dewita on September 30, 2008 3:47 am
Obama for sure. McCain is clueless on economy.
Brandon on September 30, 2008 3:00 pm
What’s the margin of error on the poll?
A blog about real estate in Washington DC, Maryland, and Virginia. Our agents share their insight about the market. on October 8, 2008 2:29 pm
[…] politics seems to rear its head in every conversation in Washington, DC, Zillow’s survey on which candidate people think will better address the current state of the housing market should […]