Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama has established a double digit
lead over his Republican rival John McCain just two weeks ahead of crucial
elections, a just released poll says.
The Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll found that 54 per cent voters favour
Obama against 41 per cent who support McCain, showing a five per cent increase
since the poll two weeks ago. The poll has a margin of error plus or minus 2.7
percentage points.
The poll says that a growing number of voters said that they were comfortable
with the Democrat's values, background and ability to serve as
commander-in-chief.
It's the largest lead in the Journal/NBC poll so far, and represents a steady
climb for Senator Obama since early September, when the political conventions
concluded with the candidates in a statistical tie.
"Voters have reached a comfort level with Barack Obama," said Peter D Hart, a
Democratic pollster who conducts the poll with Republican Neil Newhouse.
Though most voters polled said that McCain is better prepared for the White
House than the first-term Obama, there are increasing concerns about the
readiness of McCain's running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the poll showed..
The race, the Journal said, has rested largely on the question of whether
voters could get comfortable with Obama, the first African-American to run on a
major party ticket, and one who has been on the national political scene for
just a few years.
McCain has worked to stoke concerns about Obama's past and his qualifications,
raising questions about his rival's character and his association with
1960s-era radical William Ayers. The new poll suggests that these attacks
haven't worked.
The poll found that Obama now holds a 12-percentage-point advantage with
independents, a group both sides have fiercely sought. Two weeks ago, Obama led
this group by just four percentage points. In mid-September, independents
favoured McCain by 13 points.
Obama leads suburban voters by 12 percentage points, up from two points two
weeks ago. He leads among older voters, those over 65-years-old, by nine
points, erasing a one-point McCain advantage from the last poll. And in the
Midwest, home to a swath of battleground states, he is now favoured by 25
points, up from a one-point advantage.
Some daily tracking polls, the journal said, have found a tighter race between
McCain and Obama in recent days. Real Clear Politics, a Web site that averages
major polls, shows Obama up by 7.2 percentage points.
Others have found a larger spread, such as one released Tuesday by the Pew
Research Centre for the People and the Press, a nonpartisan research group.
That poll found a 14-point advantage for Obama among registered voters.
Many polls also show McCain lagging in key battleground states, which hold the
electoral votes that could decide the race.
Obama, the paper said, has also eaten into traditional Republican advantages,
notably on taxes, despite McCain's attempts to make the issue a central
economic theme of the campaign's closing days.
In the mid-September Journal poll, McCain was favoured 41 per cent to 37 per
cent when voters were asked which candidate would be "better on taxes." This
week's poll found Obama leading on the issue by 48 per cent to 34 per cent.
That, the Journal says, may be partly due to Obama's argument that McCain would
raise taxes on health-insurance benefits. While McCain's health plan does raise
some taxes, the plan overall represents a net tax cut, the paper said, citing
independent estimates.
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