Washington: With Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama taking a comfortable ten point-lead over his Republican rival John McCain as per the latest poll, he is all but set to ride the wave to the White House, as historically this kind of a lead in October has proven to be unbeatable in the past.
While there are few signs of progress for McCain in the poll, “recent history suggests that mid-October leads are vulnerable, although turning around a late double-digit deficit would be unprecedented in the modern era,” says a report in the Washington Post.
The paper said: “At this stage in 1992, Bill Clinton held a 14-point advantage over incumbent George H.W. Bush in Post-ABC polling, and it was as high as 19 points before the election, which he won by six points. In mid-October 1976, Jimmy Carter had leads as big as 13 points in Gallup polling; Carter defeated incumbent Gerald Ford by two points.”
According to it, with just over three weeks to go for the November 4, Obama appears to be gaining momentum and McCain stalled or losing ground on a range of issues and personal traits.
The poll figures suggest that Obama is leading 53 percent to 43 percent among likely voters, and for the first time in the general-election campaign, voters gave the Democrat a clear edge on tax policy and providing strong leadership.
Obama is winning “economy voters” by 62 percent to 33 percent, nearly a 2-to-1 ratio. He also continues to stay above the 50 percent mark on the key question of his experience: 54 percent in the new poll said he has enough experience to serve effectively as president, putting him about even with where Bill Clinton was on this question in early October 1992.
The poll was conducted after Tuesday night's debate, which most voters said did not sway their opinions much. Still, voters'' impressions of Obama are up, and views of McCain have slipped.
Nearly two-thirds of voters, 64 percent, now view Obama favorably, up six percentage points from early September. About a third of voters have a better opinion of the senator from Illinois because of his debate performances, while 8 percent have a lower opinion of him.
By contrast, more than a quarter said they think worse of McCain as a result of the debates, more than double the proportion saying their opinion had improved. McCain's overall rating has also dipped seven points, to 52 percent, over the past month.
With the final debate set for Wednesday at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., McCain faces a narrowing window in which to reverse course.
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