Despite voting for Democrats in every White House race since 1984, Wisconsin is always competitive for both parties. For example, it went for Kerry over Bush in 2004 by a razor-thin 50%-49% margin. So there is no doubt the Badger state will be high on the target lists of both the McCain and Obama teams again this year. That’s why I found this Rasmussen poll released yesterday interesting and encouraging for the McCain camp.

Here are a couple of the highlights from the crosstabs:

McCain leads Obama overall by a slim 47%-43% margin (the same, by the way, as his margin against Senator Clinton).

The Arizona senator leads among men 55%-38%, but trails among women 36%-50%.

Not surprisingly, McCain trails badly with younger voters, 36%-50%, but he holds an 11-point lead (55%-44%) among those in the next older cohort, 30-39. He also does well with all voters over 50 years old.

McCain does better among his base voters, capturing 88% of the Republicans, while Obama only garners 78% of the Democrats.

Obama trails McCain among married voters by 12 points and those with children at home by 20 points.

One trouble spot for McCain in Wisconsin: he trails among those who say "the economy" is the most important issue 41%-53%. On a brighter note, he crushes Obama 91%-9% among those who say “national security” is the most important issue.

Finally, outside the presidential contest, 59% of Wisconsin voters say they oppose raising the capital gains tax (only 20% support boosting it). I wonder how many people in the state know that an Obama presidency along with a Democratic Congress guarantees they’ll pay more to Uncle Sam--leaving them with less for Brats and Leinenkugels at the Packers games.