Obama Strong Lead in Polls May Improve Odds
(Washington) - The odds makers are yet to react to news that latest polls now show Senator Barack Obama with a 6 percentage point lead in the polls over Republican rival John McCain in the US Presidential race among key groups.
Obama is ahead of his Republican rival 47 percent to 41 percent, The Associated Press-Ipsos poll showed. The survey was taken after the Democratic senator from Illinois returned from his much ballyhooed Middle Eastern trip.
Obama enjoyed strong support among women, minorities and young voters, the poll showed.
Still, Bookmaker.com continued to show the Democrats taking over the White House with just shy of 1/3 (-300) odds while the Republicans were listed with odds of just a tad longer than 2/1 (+210 at Bookmaker.com).
McCain, the senator from Arizona, is leading by 10 points among whites and is even with Obama among men, groups with whom Republicans traditionally do well in national elections.
Obama leads by 13 points among women, by 30 points among voters up to age 34, and by 55 points among blacks, Hispanics and other minorities, the poll shows.
The poll showed a huge Democratic advantage when voters ponder which party they would like to see control Congress next year. Democrats were favored over Republicans 53 percent to 35 percent, underscoring the mountainous disadvantage McCain and other GOP candidates are facing in the Nov. 4 voting.
The poll illustrated other ways damage has been inflicted on the Republican brand name as well.
Just 18 percent think the country is moving in the right direction, and only 31 percent approve of the job President Bush is doing. Both readings are a bit better than the record lows in the AP-Ipsos poll that both measures scored in mid-July.
----
The Associated Press was referenced for portions of this report
