Poll: Obama narrowing overall gender gap

PRINCETON, N.J., Aug. 14 (UPI) -- The gender gap between white U.S. voters indicates Sen. Barack Obama trails Sen. John McCain with white men and tied among white women, a Gallup poll reported.

The findings indicate McCain, the presumptive Republican Party presidential nominee, is doing slightly better among white men than U.S. President George Bush's final position against challenger Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., in the 2004 election, Gallup Poll Daily tracking data released Wednesday indicates.

McCain enjoys a 20-percentage-point advantage over Obama, D-Ill., among white males, 55 percent to 35 percent. The two are tied among white females at 44 percent.

McCain's showing among white women when compared to Bush has created the net effect of giving Obama, the likely Democratic nominee, a slightly better position among whites than was Kerry had in 2004, the Princeton, N.J., polling agency said.

Democratic presidential candidates generally fared less well among white men than among white women in recent elections, Gallup said.

Results are based on telephone interviews Aug. 1-11 with 9,817 registered voters and 8,208 registered voters who are non-Hispanic whites. Results for the samples have a margin of error of 1 percentage point.