Lansing (AP) -- Republican John McCain has narrowed the gap between himself and Democrat Barack Obama in Michigan, according to a poll released Thursday.
Forty-six percent of those polled say they'd back Obama if the election were held now, while 42 percent would support McCain. A month ago, Obama held a slight 48-percent-to-42-percent lead over McCain in a Quinnipiac poll.
The more recent statewide poll of 1,684 likely voters was conducted July 14 through Tuesday by Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn. It was commissioned by the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post. It coincides with similar polls for Colorado, Minnesota and Wisconsin, all considered electoral battleground states.
"The good news for McCain is that he has improved his standing in Colorado and Michigan, two states that are critical to each man's strategy,'' said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
"Obama wants to break through in the Rocky Mountain and Southwestern states that have been going Republican for decades. McCain sees recently Democratic Michigan as his top takeaway target,'' Brown added. "In order to close the gap (in Michigan), McCain needs to do a little bit better winning back the Democrats who voted for Ronald Reagan and their children.''
McCain campaigned in Michigan while the Quinnipiac poll was being conducted.
The Arizona senator held a July 17 fundraiser in Ferrysburg and visited a hot dog stand that day in Grand Haven before traveling to southeast Michigan, where he held a July 18 town hall meeting with about 500 engineers and technicians at the General Motors Corp. Technical Center in Warren. He also visited the state on July 10.
Obama last campaigned in the state on June 16 and 17. His wife, Michelle, made her first Michigan stop of the campaign season on July 9 in Pontiac.
Twenty-nine percent of Michigan voters in the Quinnipiac poll said Michelle Obama better fit their idea of a first lady, while 28 percent picked Cindy McCain.
The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.4 percentage points. It did not poll for Barr or Nader.
Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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