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Democratic US presidential candidate Barack Obama is leading his Republican rival John McCain 53 per cent to 43 per cent among likely voters, according to a Washington Post-ABC News opinion poll released today.

Sixty-four per cent of voters now view Mr Obama favorably, up six percentage points from early September, according to the poll taken after Tuesday night's presidential debate.

Nearly a third of voters have a better opinion of the Illinois senator because of his debate performance while eight per cent have a lower opinion of him, the poll found.

Twelve per cent of voters have a higher opinion of Arizona Senator McCain after the debate, while 26 per cent said they had a worse opinion of him.

The final debate on Wednesday at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, will be the last of three face-offs between the two candidates before the November 4th election.

According to the poll, 52 per cent of voters now strongly favour Mr McCain, down seven percentage points from early September.

More than half of respondents, 59 per cent said the Arizona senator has been mainly attacking his opponent rather than addressing the issues, up from 48 percent who said the same thing in August, the Postreported.
Sixty-eight percent of respondents said Obama has been mainly addressing the issues.