Poll: Obama leads McCain by 8 points

PRINCETON, N.J., Sept. 29 (UPI) -- Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Barack Obama leads Republican John McCain by eight points, a poll released Monday indicates.

The Gallup Poll Daily tracking update shows Obama leads 50 percent to 42 percent. Gallup's analysis says the first presidential debate Friday has neither slowed nor reversed Obama's momentum.

Obama's 50 percent level of support matched an earlier high for the Illinois senator's campaign. His current eight-point lead is one percentage point below his largest lead, reached after his international trip in July.

"The national political focus remains largely on the government plan to help rid financial institutions of the bad loans weighing down the economy, a plan for which both McCain and Obama have expressed support," said Jeff Jones of Gallup. "The next major event on the presidential election calendar is Thursday's debate between vice presidential candidates Joe Biden and Sarah Palin."

The poll is based on interviews conducted Friday to Sunday of 2,732 registered voters. The maximum margin of sampling error is plus or minus 2 percentage points.