Obama Making Inroads in the Insurance Industry

Democratic Sen. Barack Obama appears to be making inroads among professionals in the heavily Republican insurance industry, according to a poll conducted by BestWeek U.S./Canada.

In the final pre-election online survey of nearly 1,000 industry professionals, the Illinois senator gained 8.7 percentage points in favorability from his standing in mid-September.

The survey showed Republican John McCain still held a 54.5% to 42.3% lead over Obama, but that was down from the 64.1% support McCain showed in BestWeek’s prior poll, conducted Sept. 5 through Sept. 9. Just 2% said they remained undecided, while 1.6% were not voting for either of the major party candidates.

In the latest online poll, conducted Oct. 22 to Oct. 28, 11.4% of respondents reported that they had changed their minds about their choice of presidential candidates over the course of the campaign. Obama picked up the lion’s share of vote-switchers, with 63%, compared with McCain’s 28.7%.

The selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as running mate may have played a role in industry defections from McCain. Many of those who offered written explanations on the matter mentioned Palin as part of the reason for switching their vote to Obama.

Also, in BestWeek Europe:

In spite of the financial meltdown in capital markets, China may be in position to lead growth in the global insurance business. Because of the early stage of development and low penetration level in China’s insurance market, continuous premium growth is expected.

Also, on A.M. Best’s Election News Web site:

Five state insurance commissioner offices are up for grabs in the November general election. At least three of those states will see new faces, as the incumbents are not running again. Visit www.ambest.com/electionnews for the latest election news, survey results, candidate information and audio. Ongoing election results will be posted on the site Nov. 4.

Also in BestWeek U.S./Canada:

Several industry giants saw third quarter profits fall. Earnings tracker is a capsulized look at recent financial postings by insurers, reinsurers and brokers.

And in both editions of BestWeek:

As of the close of the U.S. market on Thursday, Oct. 30, the AMBG stood at 674.51, a one-week decrease of 1.15%.

BestWeek is published by A.M. Best Co. for insurance professionals. To subscribe, call A.M. Best’s customer service department at (908) 439-2200, ext. 5742, or e-mail your request to customer_service@ambest.com.