Obama leads McCain in Post-ABC News poll

WASHINGTON, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- Democrat Barack Obama led Republican rival John McCain by nine points among likely voters interviewed for a poll on the U.S. presidential race.

Obama edged McCain 53 percent to 44 percent in The Washington Post-ABC News poll released Friday.

McCain and Obama continued to show high favorability ratings, as did Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden, while McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, continued to drop in favorability ratings, the Post reported, noting Palin's negative ratings among likely voters have increased in each Post-ABC poll taken since the Republican National Convention was held the first week of September.

In the most recent poll, Palin's negative rating increased to 51 percent from a rating of 29 percent in a poll conducted just after the convention, the Post reported Saturday.