Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) delivers remarks at the League of United Latin American Citizens' (LULAC) 79th Annual National Convention and Exposition in Washington on July 8, 2008. (UPI Photo/Kevin Dietsch)

PRINCETON, N.J., July 9 (UPI) -- Likely Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois is making inroads among voters with less formal education, a Gallup Poll indicated.

In June, 43 percent of voters with no more than a high school education were as likely to prefer presumptive Republican candidate Sen. John McCain of Arizona as to prefer Obama, also at 43 percent, the Gallup Poll released Wednesday indicated. Obama struggled to appeal to this voting segment during the primary.

Obama leads McCain among women with less formal education, 44 percent to 40 percent, and trails McCain by 4 percentage points among men of similar educational circumstance, 46 percent to 42 percent, the Princeton, N.J., polling agency said. McCain leads Obama 51 percent to 34 percent among whites with less education, but Obama bests McCain among non-whites with a high school education or less, 73 percent to 17 percent.

Results are based on telephone interviews conducted with 23,731 registered voters in June as part of Gallup Poll Daily tracking. The total sample has a margin of error of 1 percentage point. The margin of error for subgroups ranges from 1 percentage point to 2 percentage points.