Swing-State Voters Trust Obama More to Address Medicare

Voters in 12 key election swing states trust President Barack Obama over challenger Mitt Romney to address issues facing the Medicare system, 50% to 44%. Obama holds a slightly larger advantage on this issue among voters nationally.

The results are based on the Sept. 11-17, 2012, USA Today/Gallup Swing States poll. Interviewing was completed before the intensive news coverage of the video recording of Mitt Romney's "47%" comments, and so does not measure any possible impact of those statements. The swing-state survey includes voters in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Voters More Likely to Believe Obama Has a Plan, but Divided on Impact of Potential Changes

Swing-state voters are slightly more likely to believe Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have put forth a plan on Medicare (51%) than to believe that Romney and GOP vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan have (44%), although Ryan authored a budget passed by the House of Representatives that included significant changes to the Medicare program. Ryan's budget was never passed by the Senate, and its lack of legislative success may partly explain this awareness gap. On the other hand, Obama signed into law the highly visible Affordable Care Act in 2010, and it's possible some voters are referring to this piece of legislation when thinking about Obama's plan for Medicare.