Sen. Barack Obama seems to be closing the gap in Arizona as the number of undecided voters shrinks, according to a statewide poll that shows Sen. John McCain holding a 7-point lead in his home state.
McCain led 45 percent to Obama's 38 percent among the 976 registered voters polled between Sept. 25 and Sept. 28 by the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University and Eight/KAET-TV. Independent candidate Ralph Nader received 1 percent and Libertarian candidate Bob Barr and Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney each received less than 1 percent of the vote. Sixteen percent were undecided.
Last month, the poll found that McCain led by 10 percentage points. At that time, McCain had 40 percent of the vote, while Obama drew 30 percent, Nader drew 2 percent, Barr had 1 percent and 27 percent were undecided.
"At one time, it looked like Arizona was solidly Republican, but now has become a state in which the Democrats may choose to actively campaign," according to a statement released by pollster and ASU professor Bruce Merrill. "Most importantly, the undecided vote is now down to 15 percent. The electorate is highly polarized and there probably won't be much movement by Republicans and Democrats."
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