McClatchy: Poll shows Obama leading McCain with independents split

[babylonsister]

Poll shows Obama leading McCain with independents split

By David Lightman | McClatchy Newspapers



WASHINGTON — The presidential race remains volatile and unpredictable, largely because of a huge bloc of undecided swing voters.

"The middle of the electorate is reasserting itself in this election," according to a Pew Research Center survey released Thursday.

Among all voters, Democrat Barack Obama leads Republican John McCain by 48 to 40 percent. Pew polled 2,004 people by land line and cell phone from June 18 to 29. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.

The White House hopefuls face an unusual number of variables, and as a result "the outlook for the presidential election in midyear is substantially different than at comparable points in time in recent campaigns," the survey found.

Among those variables:

_ Independents make up about one-third of the electorate, and those who have preferences are split virtually evenly between Obama and McCain, with 42 percent for Obama and 41 percent for McCain.

However, some 46 percent of independents are undecided or only lukewarm toward their current choices. Only 28 percent of them said they'd certainly vote for Obama, while only 26 percent said they were sure to back McCain.

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