US presidential election:JOHN McCAIN'S negative campaigning and the choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate have provoked a sharp backlash among voters, according to a new poll that shows Barack Obama leading the presidential race by 14 points, writes Denis Staunton, in Hempstead, Long Island, New York .
The New York Times/CBS News poll, which was published as the candidates prepared to meet for their final debate at New York's Hofstra University last night, puts the Democrat ahead among male voters and independents. For the first time, white voters are evenly divided among the candidates.
Voters who said their opinion of the candidates has changed in recent weeks were three times as likely to have taken a more unfavourable view of Mr McCain and twice as likely to view Mr Obama more favourably.
Six in 10 voters said Mr McCain spent more time attacking his opponent than explaining what he would do as president; about the same number said Mr Obama spent more time explaining his policies.
Almost two out of three voters said they had heard about Mr Obama's association with William Ayers, who was an urban guerrilla during the 1960s, but most said it did not bother them.
Mrs Palin, who initially gave the Republican ticket a powerful boost, has seen her approval rating plunge eight points to 32 per cent and her unfavourable rating rise nine points to 41 per cent.
The best news in the poll for Mr McCain is that 64 per cent of voters believe he is well prepared to be president, compared to 51 per cent who say the same of Mr Obama. About seven voters in 10, however, believe that the Democrat has the right temperament and personality for the job, while only half think the Republican has.
Other polls suggest that Mr Obama's lead may be in the high single digits but with less than three weeks to go before election day, they all agree that Mr McCain faces a formidable task as he seeks to turn the race around.
Mr Obama's decision to forgo public financing of his campaign has allowed him to build up a massive financial advantage through private contributions. The disparity in funding between the two campaigns is most apparent in television advertising in the key battleground states, where pro-Obama ads often outnumber those for Mr McCain by more than 10 to one.
In Virginia, Mr Obama spent almost $4 million on ads last week alone, compared to less than $500,000 for Mr McCain. A new Time/CNN poll yesterday put Mr Obama 10 points ahead in the state, which has not backed a Democrat in a presidential election since 1964.
Mr Obama's financial edge has also allowed him to invest heavily in voter registration and turnout efforts in the battleground states, opening dozens of offices.
Mr McCain's senior strategist Nicole Wallace acknowledged yesterday that the campaign "lost the spin war" by allowing Mr Obama's campaign to brand the Republican as a dirty campaigner.
"The truth is they play dirty politics, and maybe we haven't been quick enough. Maybe we don't have enough friends in the media to carry the message," Ms Wallace told MSNBC.
"We certainly lost the spin war about his fighting a more negative campaign. The truth is that Barack Obama has spent more money on negative attack ads against John McCain than any politician, Democrat or Republican, in history."
The Obama campaign accidentally released to reporters internal talking points ahead of last night's debate, which made clear that the Democrats intend to keep the focus on the negative side of Mr McCain's campaigning and to portray the Republican as out of touch on the economy.
"This is John McCain's last chance to turn this race around and somehow convince the American people that his erratic response to this economic crisis doesn't disqualify him from being president," the campaign memo says. "John McCain has been erratic and unsteady since this crisis began - staggering from position to position and trying to change the subject away from the economy by launching false character attacks."