THE RACE: The presidential race nationally
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THE NUMBERS (Quinnipiac University poll)
Barack Obama, 50 percent
John McCain, 41 percent
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OF INTEREST:
Independents are evenly divided between the two candidates. Whites prefer McCain by 7 percentage points, but there are variations: whites without college are solidly behind McCain while college graduates are split equally. White men back McCain by a large margin, while white women prefer Obama by a hair. Virtually all blacks support Obama. Voters under age 35 prefer Obama by a 2-to-1 margin, those in middle age lean narrowly toward Obama, while those age 55 and up are evenly divided. Overall, 5 percent say Obama's being African American makes them less likely to vote for him, while 20 percent say they are less likely to vote for McCain because he would enter office at age 72.
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The Quinnipiac University poll was conducted from July 8-13 and involved telephone interviews with 1,725 likely voters. It had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.4 percentage points.
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COMPLETE RESULTS: http://www.quinnipiac.edu/polling.xml
THE NUMBERS (ABC News-Washington Post poll)
Barack Obama, 50 percent
John McCain, 42 percent
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OF INTEREST:
Obama is more trusted than McCain on domestic issues like the economy, the budget deficit and immigration. But McCain is widely seen as knowing more about world affairs, and more say he would do the better job handling an unexpected major crisis. The two run about evenly on who would do the better jobs with Iraq, Iran and the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Obama is considered far likelier than McCain to restore the U.S. image abroad. During a campaign in which both candidates have been accused of revising their views on some issues, about three in four say it's better for a contender to adjust to changing situations than to rigidly stick to a position.
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The ABC News-Washington Post poll was conducted from July 10-13 and included telephone interviews with 971 registered voters. It had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
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COMPLETE RESULTS: http://abcnews.com/pollingunit and http://www.washingtonpost.com
THE NUMBERS (CBS News-New York Times poll)
Barack Obama, 45 percent
John McCain, 39 percent
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OF INTEREST:
Twelve percent were undecided, double the number a month ago, while at least one in four of both candidates' supporters say they may change their minds. McCain leads among whites of both sexes and working-class whites. Obama has a sizable lead with Hispanics and voters under age 65. The two are running about evenly among independents and people age 65 and up. McCain is seen as the better commander in chief and as more patriotic than Obama. Yet six in 10 of McCain's supporters say they'd want more candidates to choose from, double the number of Obama supporters who say so.
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The CBS News-New York Times poll was conducted from July 7-14 and included telephone interviews with 1,534 registered voters. It had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
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COMPLETE RESULTS: http://www.cbsnews.com and http://www.nytimes.com