McCain camp pushes back on new polling

As new polling shows Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama widening his lead over GOP rival John McCain, the Republican's campaign disputed the new data, insisting Wednesday that the race is still very close. 

Bill McInturff, McCain's pollster, told reporters during a conference call Wednesday that a new ABC/Washington Post poll that shows Obama heading into Friday night's debate with a nine-point national lead, stemming largely from concerns over the economy, is an anomaly and that the contest remains “remarkably stable.”

{mosads}“I don’t think these results are at all indicative [of] what's happening in this campaign,” McInturff said.

McCain’s longtime pollster disputed the “dramatic” change in voter party identification that the poll found. He added that the McCain camp continues to believe that the drop in how many voters identify themselves as Republicans is probably no more than four to eight points. The new poll shows GOP party identification dropping off 16 points.

“It’s a margin-of-error race nationally, and it’s a margin-of-error race in most of the competitive states,” he said.

Obama’s polling leads disappeared following McCain’s pick of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate and the Republican convention, but the historic financial crisis on Wall Street and the conventional wisdom that voters believe Democrats are more suited to be stewards of the economy appears to have reversed that trend.

According to the new poll, only 9 percent of voters think the economy is in “good or excellent” shape.

McCain officials said Wednesday that the voting public is still digesting the bad financial news, and once voters do, they will see McCain’s experience and pledge to cut taxes as a reason to trust him on the economy.

“We’re walking through a crisis, and people are looking to see how it’s going to be handled,” senior McCain strategist Sarah Simmons said.