Obama Leading McCain in New Ohio, Pennsylvania, Minnesota Polls

Oct. 6

(Bloomberg) -- Democrat Barack Obama leads Republican presidential nominee John McCain in battleground states of Ohio, Pennsylvania and Minnesota, according to new polls.

Obama, an Illinois senator, leads 49 percent to 42 percent among Ohio voters, according to a Columbus Dispatch poll of 2,262 likely voters released yesterday.

The survey, conducted Sept. 24 to Oct. 3, shows a change from a poll by the newspaper before the parties' nominating conventions, when McCain had a single percentage-point advantage. The state is crucial to the Arizona senator's campaign, because no Republican has won the presidency without carrying Ohio.

Polls in Ohio ``are showing increased support for Barack Obama,'' because voters are paying attention to McCain's support for privatizing Social Security, backing ``job-killing trade agreements,'' and his backing of deregulation of the banking system, Ohio Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown said on ABC's ``This Week'' program yesterday.

A Minnesota poll of 1,084 likely voters published by the Star Tribune newspaper shows Obama leading 55-37 percent over McCain. The poll was conducted from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2.

Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota said the Star Tribune poll is ``notoriously not accurate,'' and said a separate earlier poll found McCain favored by 1 percentage point.

``Minnesota is a Democrat-leaning state, but not so much that it's implausible for a Republican to win here,'' Pawlenty said on ``This Week.''

Pennsylvania Poll

In Pennsylvania, Obama has a 50 percent to 40 percent lead over McCain, according to a Morning Call/Muhlenberg College tracking poll.

The Muhlenberg College poll surveyed 597 likely voters and was conducted from Sept. 30 to Oct. 3. The results of the three state polls were outside the margin for error.

The presidential race in Colorado remains a tie, according to a poll released by the Denver Post yesterday.

National polls also show that Obama is maintaining a lead over McCain.

Obama led McCain 49 percent to 42 percent among registered voters surveyed Sept. 27-29 by the Pew Research Center. In a mid- September poll, the candidates were in a statistical dead heat.

In a CBS News poll conducted Sept. 27-30, Obama led 50 percent to 41 percent among likely voters. The margin increased 4 percentage points from a CBS/New York Times survey a week earlier.

To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Stern in Washington at cstern3@bloomberg.net

Poll: Obama Tops McCain in 4 Battleground States

Barack Obama is leading by varying margins in the four battleground states of Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin and Colorado, according to a Quinnipiac University poll out Thursday done in conjunction with The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post.

The largest gap exists with 17 percent, 54-37, of Minnesota’s 1,572 like voters preferring Obama over Republican John McCain. The margin of error was 2.5 percent.

In Michigan, 1,411 likely voters put Obama over McCain 48-42 percent, with a margin of error of 2.6 percent.

In Wisconsin, 1,537 likely voters gave Obama a 52-39 advantage over McCain, with a margin of error of 2.5 percent.

In Colorado, 1,351 likely voters gave Obama a 5 point lead over McCain, 49-44, with a margin of error of 2.7 percent.

The vital vote by independents gave Obama an even greater edge of eight to 21 points in each key state, the poll reports. The smallest deficit among independents exists in Michigan and the largest in Minnesota.

The poll found independents continue to reject the idea of an Obama-Clinton ticket by 16 to 29 percentage points.

McCain’s lead among white voters in Colorado and Michigan is credited with pulling down Obama’s lead in those states to single digits, the poll found.

“November can’t get here soon enough for Sen. Barack Obama. He has a lead everywhere, and if nothing changes between now and November he will make history,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. However, “his lead nationally, and double digits in some key states, is not hugely different from where Sen. John Kerry stood four years ago at this point in the campaign.”