McCain Trails By Double-Digits In Minnesota

September 4, 2008 2:30 p.m. EST

St. Paul, MN (AHN) - A new poll of voters in Minnesota, the origin of GOP attacks this week and where Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) will be accepting the nomination on Thursday, says the Arizona senator has a double-digit deficit to close.

Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) is ahead of McCain, 53- 41 percent, according to the latest CNN/Time/Opinion Research Corp. survey. The freshman Illinois senator gains a 14-point lead if Independent Ralph Nader, Libertarian Bob Barr and Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney, who all have less than 5 percent support, are taken into account.

"It's important to note that today's polls don't reflect any boost McCain might get from the GOP convention, because nearly all the interviews were done before the festivities started in St. Paul," CNN Polling Director Keating Holland said in a report.

The poll was conducted on Aug. 31-Sept.2 among 724 registered Minnesota voters. The margin of error is 3.5 percent.

The North Star State has 10 electoral votes. A candidate needs 270 out of the 538 votes from all states to win the election.