New York, Nov 1: Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has maintained a comfortable lead over his rival John McCain, and continued to outpace him in swing states, most national surveys showed.

Gallup’s daily poll had Obama up, 50-45 percent. Rasmussen Reports’ daily tracking had him leading by 51-46 percent, a two-point rise since Wednesday.

But Fox News/Opinion Dynamics had Obama ahead by just 47-44 percent - far closer than his 9-point lead last week, The New York Post reported.

Meanwhile, the Marist Poll showed Obama winning by 52-43 percent in Colorado and by 49-43 percent in Virginia, which hasn’t voted for a Democrat for president since 
1964 (Lyndon Johnson over Barry Goldwater).

In Colorado, early voters came out strong for Obama, while those who have yet to cast their ballots are evenly split between the two.

“The most amazing thing to me about the polls is how steady they’ve been. Obama’s been between 50 and 52 percent every day for the last 35 days,” said Scott Rasmussen, director of Rasmussen Reports.

He pointed out that the day before the Lehman Brothers collapse in September, McCain was ahead by three points.

“That brought George W. Bush back into the news,” Rasmussen said, “and reminded everybody of why they wanted change in the first place.” (ANI)