Obama widens lead over McCain

Washington, Oct 7: Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has widened his lead over Republican rival John McCain in three battleground states.

According to the latest FOX News/Rasmussen Reports Poll, Obama has gained significantly in Colorado, Missouri and Florida. Obama now leads by 52 percent to 45 percent in Florida. A week ago both McCain and he were tied in the Sunshine State. In Colorado, Obama leads 51 percent to 45 percent. Last week, he had a one-point edge in the state. In Missouri, Obama leads 50 percent to McCain's 47 percent. Obama continues to hold a narrow advantage in Virginia, 50 percent to 48 percent.

Ohio is the only state where McCain has a 48 percent to 47 percent lead over Obama. Obama has been gaining steadily ever since Lehman Brothers collapsed in mid-September and made visible the economic problems that have dominated the news ever since.

-In all five states, more voters trust Obama than McCain on economic issues. Economic issues remain far and away the top priority.

-Obama has gained significant ground in recent weeks on the question of who voters trust. The two candidates are even in three states on this question and McCain has only a very modest edge in the other two. In all four states where this question was asked last week, the numbers became at least a bit more favorable this week.

-The number who said they would be comfortable with Delaware Senator Joe Biden as Vice President increased in all three states where the question was asked for a second time.

-There was little change in the number who would be comfortable with Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as Vice President.

-When asked which candidate they would like to get advice from on the toughest decision of their life, a narrow plurality chose McCain in all five states. But, as with other questions in the survey, the trend is moving in Obama's direction.

The Rasmussen Reports conducted five state telephone surveys in partnership with Fox News Channel on October 5, 2008. The surveys were conducted in Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Ohio, and Virginia. A total of 1,000 likely voters were interviewed in each state using the Rasmussen Reports automated telephone survey methodology. The margin of sampling error for the full sample in each state poll is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95 percent level of confidence.

ANI