国际英语新闻：Poll: Obama shows lead in battleground states

WASHINGTON, June 26 (Xinhua) -- A latest poll released on Thursday showed that U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama was leading his Republican rival John McCain in four battleground states that are expected to play key roles in the November general elections.

    According to the Quinnipiac University pool, Obama was more favored than McCain in Colorado (49 percent to 44 percent), Michigan (48 to 42), Minnesota (54 to 37) and Wisconsin (52 to 39).

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama laughs during the Economic Competitiveness Summit held at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, June 26, 2008.

The Illinois senator also enjoyed strong leads among women, minorities, political independent and young voters, it showed, adding that about 75 percent of interviewees said they have made up their minds.

    The four states are all considered by campaign strategists and political analysts as swing states where McCain and Obama would have neck-and-neck battles on the election day.

    "If these numbers were to hold, it would be very difficult to see how Senator Obama doesn't win the presidency by a very comfortable margin," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the poll.

Presumptive Republican presidential candidate U.S. Senator John McCain listens to a question during a news conference after delivering a speech to the Economic Club of Canada in Ottawa June 20, 2008.

The poll conducted from June 17 to June 24 among 1,300 to 1,600 registered voters has margin of error in each state was about 2.6 percentage points.

    Another Quinnipiac poll released last week also showed an upbeat result to Obama, saying he beat McCain in the largest swing states -- Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania.

    The victory in the general elections is attained not by winning a majority of popular votes but at least 270 electoral votes.

    Obama's campaign manager David Plouffe told reporters on Wednesday that the campaign draw a strategy to win Iowa and the 20states Democrats won in 2004, and turn several swing states blue.