Americans believe Barack Obama can better address the country's problems by a 47 percent to 35 percent margin over John McCain. Obama also leads among independents, 44 percent to 30 percent, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted Sept. 19-22.

Obama also had an edge in a Public Policy Polling survey conducted Sept. 20-21 on who voters thought best to turn the economy around, but it was by a lesser 49 percent to 45 percent. Voters split about evenly on which candidate they trusted more to preserve Social Security and other safety net programs for older Americans.

A Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll conducted Sept, 19-21 said Obama would do a better job of handling the financial crisis by 48 percent to 35 percent.

A Washington Post/ABC News poll conducted Sept. 19-22 says 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.

Barack Obama enjoys a 52 percent to 40 percent advantage over John McCain when it comes to voters seeing him as the candidate best able to handle the economy, according to a Gallup poll conducted Aug. 21-23. That's good news for Obama since 43 percent of registered voters name the economy as the top issue with Iraq a distant second at 15 percent and energy third at 14 percent.

McCain leads Obama 58 percent to 34 percent on handling terrorism. But only 9 percent of voters cite terrorism as their most important issue. McCain also has double-digit leads when it comes to handling policy towards Russia and the situation in Iraq.

Obama leads on most other domestic issues: by 22 points on health care and 11 points on energy. He has a slim 47 percent to 44 percent lead on taxes. The margin of error is 4 percent.

Barack Obama leads John McCain 47 percent to 42 percent with 11 percent saying they are undecided or prefer someone else in a Pew Research Center poll conducted July 23-27. The margin of error is 3 percent. That's little changed from Pew's June poll when he was ahead by 8 percent. But with the survey detailed how pounded Americans are feeling about the economy right now, it's also notable that voters believe by 47 percent to 32 percent that Obama would do a better job improving economic conditions. Eighty-seven percent of voters say that when it comes to the economy, it matters to them who is elected President.

The two men run evenly among independents. McCain maintains a big advantage among white men with a 15 point lead. White evangelicals back McCain 69 percent to 20 percent. The biggest gap among age groups is in Obama's favor. He leads by 20 points with voters under 29. The number of former Clinton supports who say they will back Obama continues to climb slowly but steadily, rising from 69 percent in June to 72 percent. In March, when 32 percent of them said they'd back McCain, Obama only had the support of 63 percent. The number of Clintonites now backing McCain has dropped to 17 percent.