new poll has mccain leading obama

US Republican Presidential nominee John McCain has taken a lead over his Democratic rival Barack Obama after receiving a boost from last week's Republican National Convention , a new opinion poll shows.

The USA Today/Gallup survey, carried out over the weekend, showed McCain ahead of Obama 50 per cent to 46 per cent among registered voters, a turnaround from a previous poll taken by the newspaper just before the convention.

That poll had McCain trailing Obama by seven percentage points, according to USA Today.

"The Republicans had a very successful convention and, at least initially, the selection of Sarah Palin has made a big difference," political scientist Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia is quoted as saying.

"He's in a far better position than his people imagined he would be in at this point," he added.

Palin, the Alaska governor and a strong conservative, has been selected by McCain as his vice presidential running mate.

Twenty-nine per cent of the respondents said Palin's selection had made them more likely to vote for McCain on November 4, and 21 per cent said their vote in support of the Republican ticket was now less likely.

Obama's choice of Delaware Senator Joseph Biden as running mate made 14 per cent more likely to vote for the Democrat and seven per cent less likely, according to the poll.

The poll of 1,022 adults, including 959 registered voters, was carried out between Friday and Sunday and has a margin of error of plus or minus three points.

Dave R.