Poll: Missouri voters leaning toward Obama

ST. LOUIS, July 12 (UPI) -- A poll of 800 voters in Missouri indicates presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama may win the electoral swing-state.

The poll by the Maryland polling firm Research 2000 indicates a majority of voters feel the Illinois senator will deal with the country's domestic problems better than his likely electoral rival, U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported on its Web site Saturday.

The Post-Dispatch and KMOV-TV poll found 48 percent of respondents favored Obama, compared with 43 percent for the presumptive Republican presidential candidate.

The poll, which had a margin of error of 3.5 percent, did find that McCain drew higher praise than Obama in regard to fighting global terror.

Pollster Del Ali said McCain needs to focus his ongoing electoral efforts on Missouri or potentially could lose the valuable swing-state and the general election.

"Missouri is a state that McCain is supposed to win in November,'' Ali told the Post-Dispatch. "If McCain can't close the gap on the economy here, he's done nationally. Obama wins Missouri and the presidential election."