Obama leading in Nevada

A new independent statewide poll finds Democrat Barack Obama leading Republican John McCain in Nevada.

Among likely Nevada voters, 51 percent would vote for Obama and 47 percent for McCain if the election were held today, according to the poll, conducted by Opinion Research Corp. for CNN and Time.

Among all registered voters, Obama's advantage was even larger: He led McCain by 54 percent to 43 percent.

The poll, conducted Sunday through Tuesday, carries a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points for registered voters, 4 points for likely voters.

Nevada was one of five battleground states surveyed by the national news organizations; Obama also led in the other four states, Florida, Minnesota, Missouri and Virginia.

A previous Nevada poll by the same group a month ago also gave the edge to Obama. The Aug. 24-26 poll of registered voters had Obama up 49 percent to 44 percent for McCain.

Other polls have found mixed results in this battleground state but have tended to favor McCain slightly. According to Pollster.com, a Web site that tracks and aggregates political poll results, McCain is averaging 48.1 percent in Nevada polling while Obama's average is 46.3 percent.

National polling has registered an uptick in support for Obama in the last week as the economy has foundered in chaos and the two candidates have faced off in their first debate.

Nevada appears to be following that trend, said national political expert Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.

"The national polls have moved in Obama's direction since the beginning of the financial crisis," he said. "Americans are frightened and upset, so they naturally move to the party out of power in the White House. The state polls are following the national polls."

In addition, he noted that while professional commentators generally scored the presidential debate a tie, surveys of voters found them more impressed by Obama's performance in it.

"The debate helped Obama," Sabato said. "Every survey has shown it, despite what the pundits said."

Both parties are mounting aggressive campaigns in Nevada, which has voted for the winner of every presidential election except one since 1912.