Nevada: A Cold Streak for Real Estate

Irma Escoto, a 38-year-old mother of three, lost her job at her husband’s auto sales lot when the two of them separated in April. On a recent afternoon she stood handing over paperwork in the Las Vegas office of the nonprofit Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Nevada and Utah in hopes that her lender would put off foreclosing on her home until she can get work or finalize child support payments. A supporter of President Barack Obama in the past, she’s uncertain whom she’ll vote for next year. “I’m not sure anyone can make a difference,” she says tearfully.

The state that went for Obama over John McCain 55 percent to 43 percent in 2008 is on edge today. An August survey of 600 Nevada voters by Raleigh (N.C.)-based Public Policy Polling found Obama leading Republican Mitt Romney by 47 percent to 46 percent with a four-point margin of error. “There’s a lot of anger,” says Jon Ralston, a political analyst and host of a statewide television show. “The question is: Is it focused in some laser-like way, or is it scattershot?”