Politics | Barack Obama Poll: Race Tightens Up Obama leads McCain by 5 points, down from 8 By Matt Cantor Posted Oct 21, 2008 7:32 AM CDT Copied Florida supporters of Democrat presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. attend a campaign rally, Monday, Oct. 20, 2008, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Steve Nesius) The presidential race is tightening, with Barack Obama leading John McCain 51% to 46% among likely voters, down from an 8-point gap, a CNN/Opinion Research Center poll shows. McCain’s boost may be linked to a drop in the number of people who think he’ll continue President Bush’s policies —49% compared with 56% in an Oct. 3-5 poll, reports CNN. Some 53% of those polled believe Obama is stronger on the financial crisis, compared with 38% for McCain. Obama is seen as better for the middle class, with 63% saying he’s better equipped to help it, almost twice McCain’s 32%. A CNN poll of polls shows the Illinois senator maintaining a 6-point lead in the race, 50% to 44%. Read These Next A former NFL Pro Bowler has died at age 36. Major websites, apps affected by massive outage. The penny is still with us, but the headache has already arrived. The massive AWS failure exposed a big problem with the internet. Report an error