Undecideds plummet and Obama gains in newest KY poll

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.), has halved the lead of his Republican counterpart, Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.), in Kentucky.

A new poll by the New Jersey-based firm SurveyUSA shows McCain holding a 53 to 41 percent lead over Obama in Kentucky among 626 "likely voters." 4 percent of respondents indicated they would select an "other" candidate while 2 percent were undecided.

The poll was conducted from June 13 to June 16 and has a margin of error of plus or minus four percent.

The findings are the first presidential numbers released by SurveyUSA since a poll conducted just prior to Kentucky's May 20 Democratic presidential primary. Then, McCain showed a 56 to 32 percent advantage over Obama in a then-hypothetical general election match-up. At the time, Senator Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) was still very involved in the Democratic primary race against Obama. Earlier this month, she conceded to the Illinois Senator. 13 percent of the 600 "registered" voters surveyed in that poll were "undecided."

There are some notable differences in the two polls. The pre-primary poll did not account for respondents selecting an "other" candidate, while it also measured "registered" voters, compared to the newest polls accounting of "likely" voters.

"Likely" voters are those who respond with a high number when asked how likely they are to vote, on a scale of 1-10. SurveyUSA also applies age filters to make a final determination about whether to categorize a voter as "likely."

At any rate, in two polls from the firm, Obama has cut McCain's lead by 12 points since the primary while the percentage of respondents indicating they were undecided shrunk dramatically, by 11 points.

McCain's May lead of 7 points in the Louisville area has swung dramatically in Obama's favor, with the Illinois Senator now leading that region by 12 points.

McCain still holds large leads in all other regions of the state, topping Obama in western Kentucky by 18, in the east by 30, and in the northern/central region by 20.

Among Democrats, McCain pulls 35 percent support among respondents to Obama's 59. He also leads among independents 47 to 42 percent. 10 percent of this demographic are undecided.

This advantage among independents is down, however, from the pre-primary poll, which gave McCain a 66 to 19 percent lead, with 15 percent undecided.