Obama takes 10-point lead

Democrat Barack Obama has expanded his national lead over Republican John McCain in the US presidential race to 10 points, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released yesterday.

Mr Obama leads Mr McCain 52 per cent to 42 per cent among likely US voters in the latest three-day tracking poll, up from an eight-point advantage for Mr Obama on Tuesday. The telephone poll has a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points.

It was the third consecutive day Mr Obama gained ground on Mr McCain as the two begin the final sprint to the November 4 election. "Mr Obama just keeps growing, he has expanded his lead among almost every major voting group," said pollster John Zogby. "McCain seems to be out of steam for the moment."

The 10-point lead was the first time Mr Obama's advantage over McCain, an Arizona senator, reached double-digits in the poll.

Mr Obama made gains with two key swing voting blocs. His advantage with independent voters grew to a whopping 27 points from 15 points and his edge with women voters grew to 16 points from 13.