Poll Tracker

John McCain leads Barack Obama 48 percent to 44 percent among likely voters with 1 percent each for Ralph Nader and Libertarian Bob Barr and 3 percent undecided in an Associated Press/GfK poll conducted Sept. 5-10. The margin of error is 3.4 percent.

Findings in the poll:

• Asked whether they though each candidate "cares a lot about people like you," 40 percent said Obama did compared to 37 percent for Sarah Palin, 36 percent for McCain and 26 percent for Joseph Biden.
• Two-thirds said the thing they most preferred in a presidential candidate was that they had values they (the voter) supported compared to 29 percent who cited "solid experience."
• Thirty-seven percent thought Palin and Obama shared their own positions on issues, although a fifth of voters didn't know enough to say so about Palin or Biden. A third said McCain shared their positions and 23 percent said that if Biden.
• McCain blew everyone else away on the question of who had the right experience to be President. Eighty percent said he did, 58 percent said Biden did, 46 percent said that of Obama and 41 percent said it of Palin.
• McCain may be catching a break on how much voters identify him with George Bush. Voters say they believe he will take the country in a different direction than Bush by 50 percent to 46 percent.
• Fourteen percent of voters think a lot of people won't support Obama because he is black and 44 percent answered that "some" won't. Seven percent of voters said "a lot" of people won't vote for McCain because of his age while 36 percent said some won't.