Poll makes McCain frontrunner

John McCain has swept away Barack Obama's lead in the polls two months before polling day in the US presidential elections. A Reuters/Zogby poll, which a month ago gave Obama a seven-point lead, yesterday showed McCain ahead by 46 per cent to 41. In an LA Times/Bloomberg poll, the two candidates are tied, while the RealClearPolitics poll of polls now has the Arizona senator trailing by less than two points.

McCain's surge in the polls comes after a period of negative campaigning in which Obama has been portrayed as a vacuous celebrity on a par with Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. But McCain's aides are braced for an Obama bounce in the polls following the Democrat convention which starts in Denver in four days’ time.