Washington: US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama holds clear leads in four reliably Republican states and is tied in two others as his campaign labours to remake America's political map with a landslide victory over John McCain on Tuesday, according to a new Associated Press-GFK poll.
The poll results, released on Wednesday, reflect Obama's massive allocation of money and campaign staff in states once seen as certain to back McCain, who has been forced to spread his more limited resources in the presidential election across Republican home turf.
The survey shows Americans widely favour Obama as best suited to tackle the country's accelerating economic decline, the key issue in the 2008 presidential election and a huge drag on McCain as he tries to shed the legacy of unpopular President George W. Bush, a fellow Republican.
The poll shows Obama winning among early voters, favoured on almost every issue, benefiting from the country's sour mood and widely viewed as the winning candidate by voters in eight crucial states - Colorado, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
The polling shows the Illinois senator holding solid leads in Ohio (seven percentage points), Nevada (12 points), Colorado (nine) and Virginia (seven) - all red states won by Bush in the 2004 elections that collectively offer 47 electoral votes.
Sweeping those four or putting together the right combination of two or three - would almost certainly make Obama president.
AP Washington Bureau Chief, Ron Fournier said on Wednesday that Obama was leading in enough states to "easily win" the election.
He added that McCain's team knew that success in the November 4 poll was now "a long shot".
Fournier believes the only way McCain can win is by holding onto every state that voted Republican at the last election.
According to the AP-GfK survey, Obama is tied with McCain in North Carolina and Florida, two vote-rich states Bush carried in 2004.
Obama is throwing his time and money into Florida, which has 27 votes, part of a strategy to create varied routes to victory and push toward a landslide of 300 or more electoral votes.
Independent polling suggests that New Mexico and Iowa, two traditionally Republican-leaning states, are out of reach for McCain.
Other red states may be creeping away from him and into contention, including Montana.
Thus, McCain must overtake Obama in the many traditionally Republican states where he is trailing or tied - a tall order.
Or he needs to gain some breathing room by winning Pennsylvania, where he trails by 12 percentage points, according to the AP-GfK poll.
Despite a mounting chorus of Republicans predicting McCain's failure, aides to the four-term Arizona senator insist their internal surveys show victory is still within reach.
And polls are mere snapshots of highly fluid campaigns, and the 2008 race has been volatile.
McCain was written off prematurely last year, and Obama seemed poised for victory in New Hampshire's Democratic primary just before Hillary Rodham Clinton charged to victory there.
McCain will be hoping that undecided voters lean his way come election day.
Obama, meanwhile, will be trying to cement his lead on Wednesday with a national television blitz and his first joint campaign appearance with former President Bill Clinton at a rally in Florida.
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