McCain’s Ohio Lead Solidifies

After a summer of tug of war in Ohio, John McCain emerged today as the state’s consistent favorite for the White House, with three new polls capping off a string of surveys to favor McCain in the state this month.

McCain leads in Ohio by four percentage points in Ohio according to a poll released today by Public Policy Polling. A poll released yesterday by SurveyUSA concurs with the margin, and another from Fox News/Rasmussen gives McCain a three percentage point lead.

Those surveys cap off a string of seven major polls this month to show McCain leading in Ohio, the state many believe decided the White House in 2004. Only one major poll this month has shown Obama ahead (Quinnipiac University reported a five percentage point lead for the Illinois Democrat Sept. 11).

Until September, Ohio had been largely up in the air: no candidate had maintained a lead there in more than two consecutive major polls since Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) suspended her primary campaign in June, and reports ranged from an 11 percentage point Obama lead in mid-June to a 10 percentage point McCain lead in late July.