Quinnipiac poll: Obama up 14 in Ohio

A new Quinnipiac poll on Thursday shows that Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has surged to a 14-percentage-point lead in Ohio over GOP rival John McCain. 

Ohio is widely seen as a “must-win” state for Sen. McCain (Ariz.), but it is the Illinois senator who is pulling away. Three weeks ago, Obama was up 8 percent in the state.

{mosads}The Quinnipiac University poll also shows the Democrat leading in Florida and Pennsylvania, although McCain seems to be gaining slightly in those battleground states. In the Keystone State, Obama is up 13 percent, compared to 15 percent at the beginning of the month, and in Florida he leads by five percentage points after being ahead by eight in the previous survey.

“As we enter the home stretch, Sen. Obama is winning voter groups that no Democrat has carried in more than four decades, and he holds very solid leads in the big swing states,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “If these numbers hold up, he could win the biggest Democratic landslide since Lyndon Johnson in 1964.”

The poll shows that Obama is making gains with white, born-again evangelicals compared to 2004 Democratic candidate Sen. John Kerry (Mass.).

“Sen. Obama is no longer the candidate of the young, the well-educated and minorities. He is now virtually the candidate of the ‘all,' ” Brown said. “He is winning among all age groups in all three states. He wins women by more than 20 points in Ohio and Pennsylvania and is competitive among men in all three states. Whether voters went to college or not, they are voting for him.”