Obama Four to Ten Points Ahead of McCain

New York. With three weeks left until the elections, the democratic candidate for the White House, Barack Obama, is ten points ahead of his republican rival John McCain, according to the latest poll from ABC News/Washington Post, although Zogby/Reuters put his lead at only 4 points.

ABC’s survey shows Obama in the lead with 53 percent to 43 percent for John McCain: the Washington Post’s take on these results is that for the first time the democratic candidate is enjoying a clear consensus with voters on topics such as fiscal policies and leadership.

Almost two thirds of voters look favourably on Obama (64 percent), 6 percent more than in September and about a third have improved their opinion of the Illinois senator following the debates. Conversely, a quarter of the electorate now see John McCain in a less positive light due to the two head to head debates between the candidates: the third debate is scheduled to take place on Wednesday at Hofstra University in the state of New York.

The debate comes at a time of acute uneasiness: 90% of voters believe that the country is going off the rails, a higher percentage than when this same question was asked in 1973. The economy is the issue being drawn out by the survey: seven Americans out of 100 are worried about their families’ finances. Fifty five out of a hundred will be going to vote with their minds on their pockets.

With just 23 percent of people supporting the president George W Bush, he has fallen below the lowest figure ever recorded for Richard Nixon and is just one point above the historical low of the last 70 years: Harry Truman in 1952. On the other hand, the figure indicating disapproval of Bush is at an all-time high for this type of survey: 73 percent.

Bush’s low approval rating is throwing a shadow over McCain: for 51 percent of voters the republican candidate would be a carbon copy of the current president if elected.