Lansing (AP) -- A new poll shows 43 percent of Michigan voters back Democrat Barack Obama and 41 percent support GOP rival John McCain, with third-party candidates Ralph Nader and Bob Barr picking up enough votes to be spoilers in the tight race.
Democrat John Kerry beat President Bush in Michigan by just 3 percentage points in 2004. Barr, the Libertarian candidate, got 2 percent in the recent poll while independent Nader got 3 percent. Twelve percent were undecided.
The EPIC-MRA poll surveyed 600 likely voters statewide from July 13 to 15, a time when McCain was campaigning heavily in the state. The Arizona Republican held a June 10 town hall meeting at an auto supplier near Detroit and then campaigned in western Michigan and Warren last Thursday and Friday.
In mid-May, McCain was at 44 percent while Obama was at 40 percent in an EPIC-MRA poll.
The polls were conducted for The Detroit News and TV stations WXYZ, WILX, WOOD and WJRT. They had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus four percentage points.
Both candidates have focused on Michigan in recent months, battling for the hearts and minds of the state's more than 7 million voters and highlighting the continued troubles in the domestic auto industry, which have made the state a poster child for the strained economy.
Obama campaigned frequently in the state in May and June, and both candidates - and their surrogates - have stayed on the air with campaign ads.
A mid-June poll conducted with 1,411 likely Michigan voters by Quinnipiac University for the Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post had Obama at 48 percent and McCain at 42 percent. That margin of sampling error was plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.
``This poll confirms what we know about the race - Michigan will be competitive, and John McCain is well positioned to win in this state,'' McCain spokeswoman Leah Yoon said in an e-mail message.
``A July poll has never won a November election, but we are encouraged by the enthusiasm for Barack Obama we are seeing across the state,'' Brent Colburn, a spokesman for Obama's Michigan campaign, said in an e-mail message.
In the latest EPIC-MRA poll, more Michigan voters thought well of McCain than Obama, with 58 percent having a favorable opinion of the Arizona senator compared to 51 percent for Obama. Sixty-two percent said McCain has the right kind of experience to be president, compared to 22 percent who thought that of Obama.
But two-thirds said Obama would be able to inspire people, something only 21 percent thought McCain could do. And over half said Obama would bring about needed change, compared to just a quarter who thought that of McCain.
By a 42 percent to 34 percent margin, more said McCain was someone they could trust.
Voters are evenly divided on whether they think voters will oppose Obama because he's black. Nine out of 10 say Obama's race will make no difference in their presidential choice, although pollsters say some respondents consistently mislead pollsters on this point.
Fifteen percent said Obama's race would make them more likely to vote for him, while 23 percent said it would make them less likely and 62 percent were undecided or refused to answer the question.
Seventy-five percent said the fact that McCain would be 72 if he takes office is not a consideration, while 22 percent said it would be. But nearly three-quarters said his age would make them less likely to vote for McCain, while 4 percent said more likely and 24 percent were undecided or refused to answer.
Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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