McCain maintains sizeable lead in latest Kentucky poll

Republican presidential nominee John McCain is showing an eighteen point lead in the latest poll of the Bluegrass State. That lead is only down slightly from a similar poll conducted two months earlier.

The latest statewide measurement – this one commissioned by the left-leaning Daily Kos blog and conducted by Research 2000 – gives McCain a 55 to 37 percent lead over his Democratic opponent Barack Obama. The poll was conducted from Sept. 15 to Sept. 17.

A poll tied to the same two outfits from late July gave McCain a twenty-one point lead, 56 to 35 percent.

The two polls offer few changes between each other among the demographic and geographical categories measured by Research 2000.

Across all age groups, McCain holds a lead that slims most among 18 to 29 year olds. In that demographic – nationally predicted to favor Obama – McCain leads 47 to 42 percent.

McCain holds a 24 point lead among Kentucky men and a 12 point lead among the state’s women.

The Democratic stronghold in the state remains the 3rd Congressional District – the one of the state’s six where Obama currently leads. There Obama tops McCain 51 to 40 percent.

Elsewhere, in each of the state’s other five districts, McCain leads by at least 20 points.

Obama was heavily beaten in the state’s May 20 Democratic primary, losing to U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) by 35 points. The Democratic nominee still shows some struggles among Kentucky Democrats, with McCain pulling of 26 percent of Democratic respondents to Obama’s 68 percent support.