Obama lead drops to 5 points in race
US Democrat Barack Obama's lead over Republican rival John McCain has dropped to 5 points, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Sunday.
Obama leads McCain by 49 percent to 44 percent among likely US voters in the daily tracking poll, which has a margin of error of 2.9 points. Obama's lead has dropped over the last three days after hitting a high of 12 points on Thursday.
"Things are trending back for McCain. His numbers are rising and Obama's are dropping on a daily basis. There seems to be a direct correlation between this and McCain talking about the economy," pollster John Zogby said.
Obama, 47, took the lead in most polls in recent weeks as the financial crisis and plunging stock market seized center stage ahead of the Nov 4 election.
McCain, trailing in the polls, accused Obama of already taking a "victory lap" by allowing an inaugural address to be drafted for him - a charge disputed by the Obama camp.
McCain, struggling to defend New Mexico and other Western states that in the past have mostly voted Republican from going to Obama on Nov 4, seized on a report that former President Bill Clinton's one time chief of staff, John Podesta, had already written a draft inaugural address for Obama.
Agencies
(China Daily 10/27/2008 page8)
