国际英语新闻：Latest poll shows Obama's widened lead over McCain

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama had widened his lead over his Republican rival, John McCain.

    The poll combining results of recent polls found Obama, the Illinois Senator, held an eight-percentage lead over McCain, the Arizona Senator, at 49 percent to 41 percent, with 10 percent of those surveyed still undecided.

U.S. Senator and Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama laughs as listens to U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton (not seen) speak to the audience as the two appeared at a "Women for Obama" campaign event in New York City, July 10, 2008.

"Obama's lead has grown a bit over the course of the past month. It is still relatively slim, but it is certainly solid," said cnn political research Alan Silverleib.

    Obama made the progress despite charges he has taken in the past week for being flip-flop on Iraq policies and surveillance bill.

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain pauses during remarks at his campaign headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, July 8, 2008.

He also said that as the nation was going to enter "summer doldrums," McCain was facing the burden to "shake things up."

    The poll combined three polls from Gallup, cnn/Opinion Research and LA Times/Bloomberg.

    The last poll of polls released last week showed Obama had six percentages more than McCain in supporting rate.