'McCain takes slender lead over Obama'

{image-McCane and Obama_13092008.jpg news.oneindia.in}Washington, Sep 13: Republican presidential candidate John McCain has taken a slender lead over his rival Barack Obama less than two months before elections, a poll on the presidential race has said.

The Arizona senator has a 13-percentage-point lead over his Democratic rival both with men and senior citizens, and a 23-point advantage among rural residents, according to the Associated Press-GfK Poll of likely voters. McCain is also doing better than Obama at consolidating support from party loyalists: 94 percent of Republicans back McCain, while 83 percent of Democrats prefer the Illinois senator, the Wahington Post reported. The poll is in line with others showing that in the days since both parties picked vice presidential candidates and held their conventions, Republicans have gained momentum and erased a modest lead Obama held most of the summer.

McCain leads Obama among likely voters, 48 percent to 44 percent, according to the AP-GfK Poll. The poll suggests that perceived inexperience is more of a problem at the top of the Democratic ticket than in the No. 2 spot for Republicans. Eighty percent say McCain, with nearly three decades in Congress, has the right experience to be president. Just 46 percent say Obama, now in his fourth year in the Senate, is experienced enough.

Fully 47 percent say Obama lacks the proper experience _ an even worse reading than the 36 percent who had the same criticism about McCain running mate Sarah Palin, serving her second year as Alaska governor after being a small-town mayor.

ANI