Obama widens lead over McCain, poll shows

WASHINGTON, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has widened his lead over Republican nominee John McCain during the past month, a CNN poll indicates.

The financial crisis and low approval ratings for President George Bush may have played a roll in the gains for Obama, D-Ill., in the latest CNN-Opinion Research Corp. poll.

The poll, released Monday, indicated 53 percent of likely voters said they back Obama for president, with 45 percent supported McCain. The 8-percentage-point lead doubles Obama's lead in the September CNN-Opinion Research poll.

Bush may be part of the reason why Obama improved in the polls, pollsters said. Only 24 percent said they approve of Bush's job as president, an all-time low for a CNN survey, pollsters said. The poll indicated 56 percent think the McCain's policies would be the same as those of Bush, up from 50 percent a month ago.

The financial crisis also appears to be contributing to Obama's lead in the poll. Sixty-eight percent expressed confidence in the Illinois senator's ability to handle the financial crisis, 18 points ahead of McCain.

The latest CNN-Opinion Research Corp. poll interviewed 1,006 people Friday-Sunday by telephone. The survey's margin of error is 3.5 percentage points.