Poll: McCain, Obama virtually tied

NEW YORK, Aug. 21 (UPI) -- Republican U.S. Sen. John McCain moved closer to Sen. Barack Obama as the two parties prepare for their conventions, a Wall Street Journal poll indicates.

Besides showing the two major-party candidates in a virtual dead heat -- Obama has 45 percent and McCain has 42 percent -- the Journal poll released Thursday showed another troublesome issue for Obama: Half of Sen. Hillary Clinton's supporters in the primary say they support the Illinois senator while 1-in-5 of Clinton's supporters said they favor McCain.

The poll indicated problems for McCain, a U.S. senator from Arizona, as well, indicating his supporters were less enthusiastic than Obama's backers and found concern among voters about his age.

"The poll shows how wrong the Washington conventional wisdom has been on this race," Steve Schmidt, a senior McCain strategist, told the Journal.

The Wall Street Journal/NBC poll interviewed 1,005 voters Saturday through Monday. The margin of error is 3.1 percentage points.

The Democratic National Convention is Monday through Thursday in Denver. The Republican National Convention is Sept. 1-4 in St. Paul, Minn.