Quinnipiac finds that Barack Obama now polls ahead of John McCain, and over 50 percent, in Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. In three of those four states, Obama's lead is in the double digits.
In Colorado, Obama leads 52 to McCain's 43 percent. In Michigan he is up 54 to 38 percent. In Minnesota Obama leads 51 to 40 percent, and in Wisconsin 51 to McCain's 43 percent.
Boosted by the economic crisis and a strong debate performance, Democrat Barack Obama is over the 50 percent mark in the key battleground states of Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, and for the first time leads or ties Republican John McCain among white voters in all four states, according to four simultaneous Quinnipiac University polls of likely voters conducted in partnership with The Wall Street Journal and washingtonpost.com and released today.
By wide margins, voters in each state say Sen. Obama understands the economy better than Sen. McCain. By bigger margins, voters say McCain better understands foreign policy.
..."Sen. Obama's leads in these four battleground states are as large as they have been the entire campaign. Those margins may be insurmountable barring a reversal that has never been seen before in the modern era in which polling monitors public opinion throughout the campaign," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
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"Any realistic chance of McCain coming from behind depends on scoring a knockout in this week's last debate. But given that he has been judged by the electorate to have lost both of the previous face-offs, that would seem to be a very tall order."
The Wall Street Journal pinpoints Obama's success with independents:
Significantly, Sen. Obama now has opened a strong lead with independents, a key voting bloc. More than half of independent voters in each state said they were supporting Sen. Obama.
"This election was always going to be about which candidate could win over independents," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. And Sen. McCain is "getting annihilated in these states."
And the Washington Post adds that Democratic gains in these states continue down the ticket:
In Colorado's open seat Senate race, Democratic Rep. Mark Udall holds a commanding 54 percent to 40 percent lead over former Republican Rep. Bob Schaffer. In Minnesota, Sen. Norm Coleman (R) has slipped into a dead heat with his Democratic opponent Al Franken; Franken stands at 38 percent to 36 percent for Coleman and 18 percent for independent candidate Dean Barkley.