McCain catches Obama in new poll

The director of a new national poll out today says it offers more proof that negative politics works.

The Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg survey says that after several weeks of unrelenting attacks in TV ads and stump speech, John McCain has cut a 12-percentage-point gap with Barack Obama to 2. The Democrat leads 45 percent to 43 percent, but that's a statistical tie.

The poll also found that more voters believe that McCain has the experience to be president, while more than a third have concerns about Obama's patriotism.

Also, Obama's favorability rating has dropped from 59 percent in June to 48 percent, and his negative rating has risen from 27 percent to 35 percent during the same period. McCain's favorability numbers have barely shifted, according to the poll.

"All the negative attacks from the McCain campaign seem to have been paying off," Times poll Director Susan Pinkus said in the newspaper's online story.

The poll of 1,248 registered voters was conducted by telephone from Friday through Monday and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.