Polls & Research

McCain Trails Obama in U.S. Presidential Race

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Public support for Democrat Barack Obama increased in the United States, according to a poll by Opinion Dynamics released by Fox News. 47 per cent of respondents would vote for the Illinois senator in this year’s presidential election, up three points since January.

Republican Arizona senator John McCain is second with 43 per cent, and 10 per cent of respondents would either vote for other candidates or remain undecided.

In a separate contest, New York senator Hillary Rodham Clinton trails McCain by three points.

Yesterday, McCain criticized Obama’s views on foreign policy, saying, "Meet, talk and hope may be a sound approach in a state legislature, but it is dangerously naive in international diplomacy where the oppressed look to America for hope and adversaries wish us ill."

In American elections, candidates require 270 votes in the Electoral College to win the White House. In November 2004, Republican George W. Bush earned a second term after securing 286 electoral votes from 31 states. Democratic nominee John Kerry received 252 electoral votes from 19 states and the District of Columbia.

Bush is ineligible for a third term in office. The presidential election is scheduled for Nov. 4.

Polling Data

Possible match-ups - 2008 U.S. presidential election

Thinking ahead to the next presidential election, if the 2008 general election were held today for whom would you vote if the candidates were (...)?

McCain v. Obama

	Feb. 2008	Jan. 2008	Dec. 2007
Barack Obama (D)	47%	44%	40%
John McCain (R)	43%	43%	44%
Other / Unsure	10%	13%	17%

McCain v. Rodham Clinton

	Feb. 2008	Jan. 2008	Dec. 2007
John McCain (R)	47%	45%	47%
Hillary Rodham Clinton (D)	44%	44%	42%
Other / Unsure	9%	10%	12%

Source: Opinion Dynamics / Fox News
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 900 registered American voters, conducted on Feb. 19 and Feb. 20, 2008. Margin of error is 3 per cent.