McCain returns to ABQ as poll puts him down 5 in NM

Republican presidential candidate John McCain will be in Albuquerque today for a rally at the University of New Mexico as a new poll shows him trailing Democratic opponent Barack Obama by 5 percentage points in New Mexico.

The rally will be held at the student union building on campus and is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. Tickets can be picked up at the McCain/Victory 2008 Headquarters, 5643 Jefferson St., Suites B and C, and are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Doors for the event open at 11:30 a.m.

It will be McCain’s fifth visit to New Mexico as a 2008 presidential candidate. Obama has also made five trips here.

Democrats plan to counter the McCain rally with an event of their own at UNM’s Mesa Vista Plaza at 11 a.m. According to a news release, the event will be led by students and is designed “to show the McCain campaign that New Mexicans reject McCain’s health-care plan.”

Meanwhile, a new poll conducted by Research and Polling Inc. for the Albuquerque Journal and released Sunday found Obama leading in New Mexico 45 percent to 40 percent, with 14 percent undecided. The survey of 400 registered, likely voters was conducted Monday through Thursday and has a margin of error of 4.9 percentage points.

The company’s polls are generally considered the most reliable in New Mexico. Several other, recent surveys from national polling companies have also shown Obama leading by several points.

According to the Sunday Journal article about the poll, Obama’s lead was even larger among Hispanic, independent and young voters. He led by 15 points among independents and voters ages 18-34 and by 45 points among Hispanics.

Brian Sanderoff of Research and Polling was quoted by the Journal as saying Obama has been “on a roll in the last 10 days to two weeks,” but “This thing is not over.” McCain must get half the independent vote to win, Sanderoff said, and he had the support of 29 percent in the poll, with 22 percent undecided.

“The jury is still out on whether his maverick message will prevail,” Sanderoff said of McCain. “The good news for McCain is, 16 percent of Democrats are undecided. They evidently have some reservations about Obama.”

The poll found Obama leading by 16 points in the Albuquerque metro area and by 64 points in the north-central region of the state. McCain led by 41 points on the state’s east side and by 20 points in the southern region of the state.