Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama opens the general election campaign with a narrow lead over Republican John McCain but the two score near even among independent voters, The Washington Postreported today.
According to a new Washington Post-ABCNews poll, Mr Obama leads Mr McCain by 48 per cent to 42 per cent among all adults, while Mr McCain has picked up support from independents who could be key to deciding the November election.
Independents see Mr McCain, an Arizona senator, as more credible on fighting terrorism and are split evenly on who is the stronger leader and better on the Iraq war, the Post reported.
Mr McCain has a 14-point lead over Mr Obama, an Illinois senator, on the issue of dealing with terrorism and a narrow edge on who is best equipped to handle international affairs, the poll found.
On Iraq, 47 per cent of all respondents said they trust Mr McCain more and 46 per cent said they have faith in Mr Obama.
Independents were 45 per cent for Mr McCain to 43 per cent for Mr Obama on the question of Iraq, according to the poll.
Experience appears to be Mr Obama's clearest weakness, the newspaper said. The poll found that just 50 per cent of Americans said Mr Obama has the necessary experience to be president, almost unchanged since early March.
Fifty-six per cent said Mr McCain was a safe choice, while 52 per cent said that of Mr Obama.
The two candidates were evenly matched on the question of who is the stronger leader, with 46 per cent of respondents rating each as top.
Mr McCain was in a far weaker position on domestic issues with Mr Obama leading by 16 points on the economy, which continues to top the list of the campaign's most important issues, the Post reported.
The poll of 1,125 adults was conducted by telephone on June 12-15th and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.