Poll finds most Americans blame GOP for financial woes

WASHINGTON (CNN) - A new national poll suggests that by a 2-to-1 margin, Americans blame Republicans over Democrats for the financial crisis that has swept across the country the past few weeks. That may be a contributing factor to an apparent increase in support for Sen. Barack Obama over Sen. John McCain in the race for the White House.

In the CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Monday afternoon, 47 percent of registered voters questioned say Republicans are more responsible for the problems currently facing financial institutions and the stock market, with 24 percent saying Democrats are more responsible. One in five of those polled blame both parties equally, and 8 percent say neither party is to blame.

The poll also indicates that more Americans think Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, would do a better job handling an economic crisis than McCain, the Republican presidential nominee. Forty-nine percent of those questioned say Obama would display good judgment in an economic crisis, 6 points higher than McCain.

And Obama has a 10-point lead over McCain when it comes to who would better handle the economy overall.

These numbers seem to be affecting the battle for the presidency. Fifty-one percent of registered voters are backing Obama, 5 points ahead of McCain, at 46 percent. McCain and Obama were tied at 48 percent apiece in the previous CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey. Obama's advantage, while growing, is still within the poll's sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

–From CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser