Obama Widens Lead in Presidential Race- Obama 48%, McCain 39%

Washington, DC - A new Ipsos/McClatchy poll of registered voters indicates that Barack Obama continues to incrementally open his lead over John McCain - 48% for Obama/Biden and 39% for McCain/Palin. Third party candidates Ralph Nader (Independent) and Bob Barr (Libertarian) received 2% and 1% respectively.

These figures show slight movement from last week's Ipsos/McClatchy poll: Obama 47% and McCain 40%.

Candidate Commitment Firming Up...

Commitment to vote for the candidates on November 4th has solidified further among registered voters. Among Obama supporters, 85% report they will definitely vote for him (up from 79% in last week's poll); among McCain supporters, 82% state they will definitely vote for him (up from lat week's 76%).

Who's Going Negative?

Overall, registered voters view John McCain as the candidate engaging in more negative campaigning. More than half (53%) see McCain as the more negative campaigner, while one third (30%) of registered voters believe Barack Obama is the more negative campaigner.

And Does Going Negative Work?

Voters in the most recent Ipsos/McClatchy poll see negative campaigning as not particularly effective. Regardless how they feel about the candidates for President, nearly six in ten (57%) registered voters believe that negative campaigning is "not very" or "not at all" effective. Four in ten (39%) think negative campaigning is effective, although only one in ten (13%) see negative campaigning as "very effective."

Focus, Focus, Focus...

As far as priorities for the next president, no single issue receives majority support as the single most important funding priority. Health care (32%) and energy (31%) receive a plurality of support - and these two issues eclipse support for defense (19%) and education (15%) funding.

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted October 2-6. For the survey, a nationally representative, randomly selected sample of exactly 1,131 adults aged 18 and older across the United States was interviewed by Ipsos. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate within 177 2.9 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult population in the U.S. been polled. We interviewed 1,036 registered voters. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate within 177 3.0 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult population in the U.S. been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error. These data were weighted to ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the actual U.S. population according to U.S. Census figures. Interviews were conducted with respondents on land-line telephones and cellular phones. Respondents had the option to be interviewed in English or Spanish.

For more information on this news release, please contact: Clifford Young, PhD Senior Vice President Ipsos Public Affairs (312) 375-3328 [email protected]

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