Democrat Barack Obama's lead over Republican rival John McCain has grown to 12 points in the US presidential race, with crucial independent and women voters increasingly moving to his side, according to a Reuters/C-Span/Zogby poll released today.
With less than two weeks before the November 4th election, Mr Obama leads his rival 52 per cent to 40 per cent among likely voters in the latest three-day tracking poll, which had a margin of error of 2.9 points.
Mr Obama has made steady gains over the last four days and has tripled his lead on McCain in the past week of polling.
"Obama's expansion is really across the board," pollster John Zogby said. "It seems to be among almost every demographic group."
The Illinois senator saw his lead among women - who are expected to play a decisive role in this election - increase to 18 points from 16 points on Wednesday.
Independent voters, who have been the target of intense campaign efforts by both sides, have now swung behind Mr Obama by a 30-point margin, 59 percent to 29 per cent.
Mr Zogby said Mr McCain (72) appeared to have lost the traction he won after the third and final presidential debate last week.
While Mr Obama wins the backing of 86 per cent of Democrats, only 81 per cent of Republicans back the Arizona senator - down from figures in the low 90s immediately after the Republican national convention in early September.
Mr Obama holds a six-point lead among men, 48 per cent to 42 per cent, while white voters - who had been among Mr McCain's core support groups - now only back the Arizona senator by a two-point margin.
Independent Ralph Nader and Libertarian Bob Barr held relatively steady at 2 per cent and 1 per cent respectively. Three percent of voters said they remained undecided, unchanged from Wednesday.
The rolling tracking poll surveyed 1,208 likely voters in the presidential election. In a tracking poll, the most recent day's results are added while the oldest day's results are dropped to monitor changing momentum.
Reuters