Ohio Poll Released by Columbus Dispatch: Barack Obama 52%, John McCain 46%

Here are the latest results from the Ohio poll by Columbus Dispatch published on USAElectionPolls.com:

There were 2164 voters polled on 10/22-31.

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Quote:

If Obama's lead of 52 percent to 46 percent in the new poll holds, he would become the first Democrat to win more than 50 percent of the Ohio vote since Lyndon B. Johnson did in 1964.

The survey shows he has sprinted to a 14-point lead among those who already have cast a ballot under Ohio's new early-voting law, and he is up by a ratio of almost 3-to-1 with voters who registered for the first time this year. Such voters now make up about 10 percent of the electorate.

One poll participant in the former category is Erin McGuire, 26, an educator from Columbus.

"Barack Obama is a breath of fresh air. He is not all style and no substance. In his time in the public arena, he has demonstrated a keen intellect and firm grasp of national and international issues," she said.

"While I respect John McCain's service to our country, I do not like how his campaign has lurched from issue to issue. The steadiness I admire in Obama is sorely missing in McCain. I have trouble seeing him as a true maverick when he has played to the interests of his base so strongly."

A key to Obama's success is the large margins he rolls up among women and voters 34 or younger. In his bid to become the nation's first black president, he's winning support from 90 percent of African-Americans. McCain is ahead among whites 51 percent to 47 percent.

Even though Obama has set all-time highs for money raised, TV ads run, campaign staffers hired and probably paper clips used, the turnout Tuesday will determine who wins. The Dispatch Poll, like most surveys this year, shows more self-identified Democrats than at any time in the recent past. If they or Obama's other core supporters -- women, blacks and young voters -- don't show up at the polls, McCain conceivably still could pull it off.

The five other presidential candidates on Ohio's ballot combined for 2 percent in the poll, with about half that total going to independent Ralph Nader.

Respondent Ann Williams, 61, who is self-employed and a volunteer, noted that former Secretary of State Colin Powell called Obama a "transformational figure."

"Barack Obama has the brains, temperament, spine, ideas, judgment that will help pull our country together and restore our image in the world," the Cincinnati resident said.

Source: Recent Polls, Electoral College Results