Obama lead doubles to 14%

THE popularity gap between Barack Obama and John McCain has doubled from 7% earlier this month to 14%, according to the Pew Research Centre’s latest voters poll.

Conducted between October 16-19 among 2,599 people and with a 2.5 point margin of error, the Pew poll found Democrat Obama’s support had grown to 52% of voters against 38% for his Republican White House rival.

A Pew poll at the beginning of October showed a seven-point gap.

A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll of 1,159 people showed Illinois Senator Obama ahead of Arizona Senator McCain by 10 points, 52%-42%, up from six points two weeks ago.

Obama’s surging popularity, according to Pew, was mostly due to voters’ dwindling confidence in McCain. Voters trusted Obama over McCain on all issues, including Iraq and the war on terror.