NEW YORK (AFP) — Barack Obama surged into a lead of six or more points in two new national polls released Wednesday, as survey data revealed fresh signs that the financial crisis was hurting his foe John McCain.
The Washington Post/ABC poll gave Democrat Obama a 52 percent to 43 percent lead over his Republican rival, one of the few occasions when he has cracked the 50 percent barrier in the campaign leading up to the November 4 election.
Just two weeks ago, before the crisis really took hold, the Democrat had a slim two-point lead with the race a statistical dead-heat.
Obama also opened a 53 percent to 39 percent gap over McCain on who voters trust most to handle the economy in the ABC News/Washington Post survey.
The McCain campaign however rejected the poll as an outlier which failed to capture relative levels of party identification in what other recent polls have portrayed as a tight race.
But a Fox News Opinion Dynamic also seemed to show evidence of an Obama surge in the polls, putting the Illinois senator up by 45 to 39 percent, double the three point lead he had held earlier this month.
But another respected survey, the new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll put the gap at only two points, 48 to 46 percent, almost unchanged from the snapshot of the race conducted after the party conventions.
The polls came out as new drama consumed the riveting presidential race, as McCain put his campaign on hold to return to Washington and join the effort to pass a 700 billion dollar Wall Street bailout through Congress.
Obama however refused his rival's call to delay Friday's first presidential debate over the crisis.
The ABC poll appeared to suggest that the Wall Street meltdown and economic fears in the heartland were starting to impact the race.
Only nine percent of those surveyed agreed that US economy was in good or excellent shape, the first time since 1992 that number has been in the single digits, the Post said.
Just 14 percent said the country is moving in the right direction -- the lowest figure since 1973.
Asked who they trust more to handle the economy, 53 percent chose Obama and 39 percent, McCain.
In a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll also published Wednesday, 48 percent of respondents said Obama could do a better job handling the financial crisis, and 35 percent said McCain could.
McCain's veteran pollster Bill McInturff dismissed the Post poll as a rogue reading that failed to capture relative levels of party identification among voters, which he said matched other polls suggesting a much tighter race.
"It's just easy to say, politely, that this one poll is an unusual outlier that does not represent where this campaign is nor where it's headed in the next day or two before we get to the first debate," he said on a conference call.
A National Public Radio poll meanwhile gave McCain the edge, putting him up two points on Obama in 14 battleground states, where Obama had led by three points in August.
In a Rasmussen daily tracking poll on Wednesday, Obama led McCain by just two points 49 percent to 47 percent. In Wednesday's Gallup Daily poll the Democrat led by 47 percent to 44 percent, unchanged from Tuesday.
CNN meanwhile released a sheaf of new battleground polls which appeared to confirm earlier surveys which had Obama in front.
The Illinois senator led 51 percent to 47 percent in western Colorado, which both campaigns feel could be a crucial state if the race stays tight.
Obama also led McCain in Michigan, another Republican target and he enjoyed a 53 percent to 44 percent edge in Pennsylvania a bellwether which most experts feel Democrats must win if they want to take the White House.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
