New York, Oct. 21: Fifty three percent of American voters claim that Illinois Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has far greater appeal than his Republican rival John McCain.

However, according to a New York Times report, 33 percent say they have an unfavorable view of Obama.

As far as McCain is concerned, only 36 percent of the voters view him favorably, while 45 percent view him unfavorably.

In New York Times and CBS News polls conducted with the same respondents before the first presidential debate and again after the last debate, McCain has made no progress in appealing to voters on a personal level, and he and his running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, had alienated some voters.

Personal appeal is an intangible element in voters’ decisions. Each voter has a personal reason for connecting with a candidate or not. But the percentage of those who hold a favorable opinion of Obama is up 10 points since last month. Opinion of Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., Obama’s running mate, is also up, to 50 percent last weekend from 36 percent in September.

According to the paper, Obama’s favorability is the highest for a presidential candidate running for a first term in the last 28 years of Times/CBS polls.

Palin’s negative rating is the highest for a vice-presidential candidate as measured by The Times and CBS News. Even Dan Quayle, with whom Palin is often compared because of her age and inexperience on the national scene, was not viewed as negatively in the 1988 campaign.

The nationwide telephone poll was conducted Sept. 21-24, with re-interviews completed Friday through Sunday of 518 adults, 476 of whom are registered voters. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus five percentage points for all adults and voters.

Among the voters who said their opinion of Obama had improved, many cited his debate performance, saying they liked his calm demeanor and the way he had handled the attacks on him from the McCain campaign.

Of those who said their opinion of McCain had been tarnished, many cited his attacks on his opponent, the choice of Palin as his running mate and his debate performance. (ANI)