McCain shown leading in Arizona

PHOENIX, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- Two surveys indicate Republican U.S. presidential candidate John McCain holds a lead in his home state of Arizona, but the pollsters reported big differences.

In a poll by Arizona State University, McCain, a U.S. senator, is leading Democratic opponent Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois by a 45 percent to 38 percent margin, down from a 10-point lead last month, The Arizona Republic reported Wednesday.

But in a Rasmussen Poll, McCain held a much wider 59 percent to 38 percent lead over Obama, the newspaper said. Analysts said the gap could be caused by differences in the way the polls were conducted: Rasmussen used an automated telephone system while ASU had people place the calls.

One expert, research methodologist and author Paul Lavrakas, told the newspaper that automated polls are harder to verify, saying, "They don't have a clue who's responding -- it could be your 7-year-old who wants to push some numbers."

The newspaper didn't include information on the number of respondents to the polls or when they were conducted, but did report the margin of error for the ASU poll was 3 percentage points.