Democrat Barack Obama's lead over Republican rival John McCain held steady at seven points as the race for the White House entered its final four days, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released today.
Mr Obama leads Mr McCain by 50 per cent to 43 per cent among likely voters in the three-day national tracking poll, virtually unchanged from yesterday. The telephone poll has a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points.
"Essentially there is no difference in today's tracking," pollster John Zogby said. "Obama is holding firm and McCain is not making any gains."
It was the second consecutive day Mr Obama's support has hit the 50 per cent mark, and the eighth day out of the last 11. Mr McCain's support has not surpassed 45 per cent in more than three weeks of polling.
The Illinois senator held steady among several crucial blocs of swing voters in the November 4th election, leading by 15 points among independents, nine points among women, five points among men and nine points among Catholics.
Mr Obama led in every age group and among every income group except voters who make more than $100,000. Mr McCain, a former Navy fighter pilot and Vietnam prisoner of war, trails among voters with a member of the military in their family.
Mr Mccain, an Arizona senator, also was winning only 26 per cent of Hispanics, a fast-growing group that gave Republican president George Bush more than 40 per cent of their vote in 2004.
"If you are John McCain you want to see something start changing in this race, and right now it is not," Mr Zogby said.
Mr Obama has led Mr McCain in every national opinion poll for weeks, and Mr McCain also trails in many of the key battleground states including Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania.
Mr McCain was on a bus tour of Ohio and Obama was in Florida, Virginia and Missouri on yesterday, trying to drum up turnout and win over undecided voters in some of about a dozen states that will decide the race.
Independent Ralph Nader received 2 per cent in the national survey, and Libertarian Bob Barr was at 1 per cent. About 2 per cent of voters remain undecided.
The rolling tracking poll, taken Tuesday through Thursday, surveyed 1,201 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