New York, Sept. 3: Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has acquired an eight point lead over Republican rival John McCain, and for the first time cracked the 50 percent milestone in the latest Gallup Poll.

This threshold is considered to be a safe number for victory.

According to Gallup’s Daily Tracking Poll, Obama leads McCain, 50 percent to 42 percent.

McCain is “well below” his 48 percent top support level, recorded in late April/early May, in a hypothetical match-up against Obama, said Gallup pollster Lydia Saad.

He is “just slightly better” than the 40 percent he was getting during the Democratic convention last week.

Meanwhile, the percentage of undecided voters is at its lowest since early June at 8 percent.

“This, in part, reflects movement of voters toward Obama over the course of the Democratic National Convention, a lead which has been sustained in subsequent days,” Saad said.

However, Gallup surmised that 24-hour news coverage of Hurricane Gustav and Monday’s news that the unwed 17-year-old daughter of McCain’s vice presidential pick Sarah Palin is pregnant crowded out traditional coverage of the convention.

Today’s numbers included polling from Aug. 30 through Sept. 1. The margin of error is two points in the poll of 2,772 registered voters nationwide. (ANI)