Jobless rates in 47 of the 50 U.S. states dropped in June from a year earlier, the Labor Department said on Friday, including electoral battleground states such as Florida and Nevada which could help President Barack Obama's reelection hopes. Six of the 10 states where the fight between Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney is fiercest had rates below
the national level of 8.2 percent in June. These swing states represent nearly half the 270 electoral votes a candidate must collect to win the White House. The low jobless rates have given Obama an "odd advantage," said Drew Matus, an economist at UBS Investment Research.
"States that traditionally vote Democratic have seen the least improvement in their labor markets while the so-called 'swing states' have done much better on average," he said in a research note. "A continuation of this trend would be supportive of the President's re-election effort." Recent polling suggests that voters' unease about the country's employment and financial health could threaten Obama's re-election bid against the likely Republican nominee for president, Mitt Romney. In June, Florida reported the second largest drop in its jobless rate of all states from a year earlier. The rate fell 2.1 percentage points to 8.6 percent, which was unchanged from May. ... Continue to read.
No comments:
Post a Comment