VCU Commonwealth Poll finds Obama leads McCain among Va. voters

Likely Virginia voters prefer Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama over Republican nominee Sen. John McCain by an 11-point margin, according to a new statewide survey released today by VCU. The survey also finds Mark Warner, the Democratic candidate for U.S Senate, holds a strong lead over his Republican opponent, Jim Gilmore.

VCU’s Commonwealth Poll finds 51 percent of likely Virginia voters prefer Obama, compared with 40 percent for McCain. And in the U.S. Senate race, 61 percent of likely voters prefer Warner and 27 percent prefer Gilmore.

The Commonwealth Poll was conducted by telephone with 902 registered voters and 817 likely voters Oct. 20 through Oct. 22, 2008. The margin of error for the poll is plus or minus 4 percentage points for registered voters and likely voters, respectively.

Brief by The Associated Press