While several polls this week said that the current financial crisis had given a lift to Barack Obama because voters saw him more favorably on economic issues, the flip side is that views of John McCain have turned more negative, according to a Pew Research Center poll Sept. 19-22. Pew says half the public said their opinion of McCain had changed in the past few days with 30 percent saying they had changed unfavorably and 20 percent saying they had become more favorable. The poll was conducted before Wednesday's dramatic announcement by McCain that he was suspending his campaign while work on a solution to the crisis continued, and asked for postponement of Friday's first debate.

By contrast, of those who have changed their opinion of Obama in this period, 25 percent say they see him more favorably and 20 percent say less.

Looking ahead to the debate, Pew found a different set of expectations about who would do better than a Marist poll we posted earlier in which voters said Obama would be the winner by 48 percent to 37 percent. The Pew poll has 42 percent picking McCain compared to 39 percent for Obama.

The other major national polls this week:

• Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg: Obama 49, McCain 45.
• Wall Street Journal/NBC News: Obama 48, McCain 46.
• Fox News/Opinion Dynamics: Obama 45, McCain 39.
• Washington Post/ABC News: Obama 52, McCain 43.

After weeks of running neck-to-neck with John McCain, the current economic crisis has shaken up the presidential race and put Barack Obama ahead 52 percent to 43 percent with 1 percent liking neither candidate and 3 percent undecided in a Washington Post/ABC News poll conducted Sept. 19-22. The margin of error is 3 percent. When Libertarian Bob Barr at 1 percent and Ralph Nader at 2 percent are factored in, Obama's lead is 51 percent to 43 percent. McCain had led 49 percent to 47 percent in this poll right after the Republican convention.

The economy is far and away the top issue of the campaign, cited by 50 percent of voters with Iraq a distant second at 9 percent. Voters trust Obama to handle the economy by a 53 percent to 39 percent margin over McCain, and to fix the problems with major financial institutions by a 51 percent to 38 percent margin.

Helped by the issue of the economy, Barack Obama leads John McCain 51 percent to 47 percent among likely voters in a CNN/Opinion Research poll conducted Sept. 19-21. The margin of error is 3 points. Among all registered voters, Obama's lead is 51 percent to 46 percent. If third party candidates Ralph Nader and Libertarian Bob Barr are included, Obama has a 48 percent to 45 percent lead among likely voters, with Nader getting 4 percent and Barr and green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney at 1 percent each.

Registered voters blame Republicans over Democrats for the current financial crisis by 47 percent to 24 percent with 8 percent saying neither party is to blame. Obama has a 6 point lead over McCain on who voters think would handle the crisis better and a 10 point lead in terms of managing the economy overall.

"The economy has always been considered John McCain's Achilles' heel, and the CNN poll of polls started to show an Obama edge in the middle of last week -- just as the financial crisis began to hit home for many Americans," said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

Obama appears to have turned back McCain's gains on the issue of "change," leading him by 14 points compared to the 8 point margin he had just after the GOP convention.

Thirty-five percent of voters have an unfavorable opinion of Sarah Palin, up 8 points from CNN's previous survey.