A poll of nearly 25,000 students attending more than 800 colleges in four battleground states finds overwhelming majorities of those registered to vote favoring Barack Obama, according to CBS News, UWIRE and the Chronicle of Higher Education. UWIRE is a news service run by college journalists. The survey was conducted Oct. 6- Oct.19.

Students favored Obama 67 percent to 29 percent in Pennsylvania, 61 percent to 35 percent in Ohio, 62 percent to 34 percent in North Carolina and 66 percent to 29 percent in Colorado. Those enthusiastically supporting Obama number between 51 percent and 61 percent in the four states while those that enthusiastic about McCain number between 29 percent and 34 percent. The percentage of students who say they will dfineitely vote ranges from 82 percent to 91 percent.

Barack Obama is leading John McCain 53 percent to 40 percent with 1 percent preferring some other candidate and 6 percent undecided. in a Newsweek poll conducted Oct. 22-23. The margin of error for all adults is 3.6 percent for registered voters. Obama had led by 11 earlier this month and was tied with McCain in Newsweek's Sept. 10-11 poll. Obama's favorable to unfavorable ratio is 62 percent to 32 percent while McCain's is 50 percent to 44 percent.

The biggest demographic and party identification gaps are Obama's 8 point lead among independents, his 13 point lead among women, his 63 point lead among non-whites, and double-digit leads among voters under 64. McCain's biggest advantage is his 65 percent to 29 percent lead among white evangelicals.

If voters could cast ballots separately for Vice President, Joseph Biden would beat Sarah Palin 54 percent to 37 percent. She is viewed unfavorably by 46 percent of voters and favorably by 44 percent. Twenty-two percent of voters said the choice of Palin as running mate made them "a lot less likely to vote for McCain." They said by 55 percent to 40 percent that she was not qualified to step in as President. Voters say by 57 percent to 35 percent that Palin is not well-informed on foreign policy. And while 70 percent find her personally likeable, voters say by 47 percent to 39 percent that she has mostly made unfair personal attacks on her opponents on the campaign trail. As far as the now-famous $150,000 shopping foray Palin made with the help of RNC money, 68 percent said it did not affect their image of her as a reformer with small town values while 27 percent said it did.

Barack Obama is leading John McCain 49 percent to 44 percent among likely voters, including leaners, with 1 percent preferring someone else and 9 percent undecided in a Marist Institute poll conducted Sept. 28-30. The margin of error is 3 percent. That's unchanged since last week in this poll. Among all registered voters, the margin is 47 percent to 43 percent.

Marist says the intensity of support for the candidates has fallen off somewhat, from 81 percent who last week said they strongly supported their choice to 74 percent. Seven percent say they might change their minds. The fall-off for McCain was 9 points and for Obama it was 7 points. Both candidates have almost equal favorable ratings, around the 60 percent mark.

Barack Obama leads John McCain 48 percent to 41 percent largely because of the edge he enjoys among voters on the economy, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll released Oct. 1. The latest survey of likely voters contrasted with one by AP-GfK three weeks ago that gave McCain a slight edge.

AP quoted Republicans speaking on condition of anonymity as attributing Obama's gains and McCain's slide to the same three factors cited early in a Pew Research Center poll: "No McCain gain from the first debate, McCain's struggles with economic issues as the financial crisis has unfolded and deepening public skepticism about his running mate, Sarah Palin."