Zogby Poll: Obama Takes 10 Percent Lead Over McCain In Four Candidate Presidential Race

A new Zogby poll factoring the likely third party candidacies of Ralph Nader and Bob Barr puts Democratic Presidential nomination front-runner Senator Barack Obama 10 percentage points ahead of presumptive GOP nominee Senator John McCain:

Democrat Barack Obama has sprinted out to a 10-point lead over Republican John McCain in a four-way presidential contest including Libertarian Bob Barr and Liberal Ralph Nader, the latest Reuters/Zogby telephone poll of likely voters nationwide shows.

Obama does well among his Democratic base, winning 79% support – an indication that the party faithful may be coming together behind his campaign as a bruising nomination campaign nears the end. He also does well among non-aligned voters, as independents favor him over McCain by a 48% to 32% margin.

The details are intriguing:

Obama leads in the East, the West, and in the South, while the two are essentially tied in the central part of the country, including the Midwest and the Great Lakes region, the poll shows. He leads among all voters under age 65 – including by huge percentages among those voters under age 30 – but trails McCain among those older voters by a 45% to 34% margin. Interestingly, Obama holds a 13-point edge among those voters age 50 to 64.

The survey hints that Libertarian Bob Barr could do some serious damage to McCain by stealing support among the very conservative and libertarian voters. Barr wins 10% support among those self-described “very conservative” voters, and wins 22% among philosophical (not necessarily “capital L”) libertarians. As McCain continues to angle for moderate support on the campaign trail, Barr could create havoc for him among McCain’s political base.

In other words, Nader has run several times now so the novelty of his candidacy has worn off among many dissatisfied Democrats. But Barr does would some unhappy Republicans another option.

If this poll is accurate, McCain’s shaky political tightrope act has just gotten a lot shakier.

FOOTNOTE: This is an interesting poll because rather than just ask about Obama versus McCain Zogby did factor in the two likely major third party candidates.