Zogby International Conducts Poll for The Progressive Farmer Highlighting Political Leanings of Farm Country

The August issue of The Progressive Farmer features the results of a national poll of rural American households by the pollsters at Zogby International.

Commissioned by The Progressive Farmer, the poll of nearly 3,000 rural adults measures preferences for the fall elections as well as reaction to hot-button issues in farm country such as skyrocketing crop input costs, the assault on landowner rights and ethanol.

The most telling result of the survey, conducted in late May of 2008, is that 17 percent of respondents say they are switching parties from the one they voted for in 2004. This coupled with the fact that Republicans are narrowly the party of choice for U.S. House and Senate races with 47 percent for Republicans compared to 40 percent for Democratic candidates shows that rural America is shaping up to be a battleground for votes this fall, says The Progressive Farmer Editor Jack Odle.

"Rural America is definitely in play this year and not in any one party's pocket -- votes, particularly in congressional races, are up for grabs," emphasizes Odle.

When asked about presidential preference, pollsters find Sen. John McCain garners 50 percent compared to Sen. Barack Obama at 34 percent, with 11 percent of respondents saying they will not vote for either candidate.

On the web at http://www.DTNProgressiveFarmer.com , visitors can participate in an interactive mirror survey with real-time results showing how their responses compare to the official Zogby poll results.

Zogby on behalf of The Progressive Farmer polled 2,963 rural adults, a sampling which is representative of the adult population of the United States with internet access. The margin of error is +/- 1.8 percentage points. For a complete downloadable report of the Zogby poll findings, visit http://www.DTNProgressiveFarmer.com .

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Also, DTN owns and operates The Progressive Farmer, the essential information source for commercial farmers. The journal reaches 3.5 million readers based on 650,000 subscribers concentrated in the South and Midwest.