Poll shows big shift to McCain among white women

By Deborah Charles

RIVERSIDE, Ohio (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Tuesday brushed aside a survey that showed him losing support among white women voters to John McCain since the Republican standard-bearer named Sarah Palin as his running mate.

A Washington Post/ABC News survey published on Tuesday found most of McCain's surge in the polls since the Republican National Convention was due to a big shift in support among white women voters.

"The notion that people are swinging back and forth in the span of a few weeks or a few days this wildly generally isn't borne out," Obama told reporters during a campaign stop in Riverside, Ohio.

His campaign manager, David Plouffe, was more pointed when asked about the findings at a briefing on Monday, telling a Washington Post reporter, "Your poll is wrong."

"I don't think you'll find many others that back up a 20-point reversal," Plouffe said. "We certainly are not seeing any movement like that."

The poll found that the race for the White House is a virtual tie since the parties' nominating conventions, with Obama, an Illinois senator, at 47 percent support of registered voters and McCain, an Arizona senator, at 46 percent.

An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released on Tuesday also showed Obama leading McCain by 47 percent to 46 percent, a statistical dead heat. Obama's lead in that survey was down from 3-point advantage in August and a 6-point edge in July, NBC said.

Before the Democratic National Convention in late August, Obama held an 8-point lead among white women voters, 50 percent to 42 percent, according to the Washington Post/ABC News poll. After the Republican convention in early September, McCain was ahead by 12 points among white women, 53 percent to 41 percent, that survey found.