McCain's appeal is expanding

WASHINGTON — Growing numbers of people like what they see in John McCain, vaulting him into a tie with the two Democratic presidential contenders just a few months after Republicans faced a steep disadvantage.

The Arizona senator has made a race of the White House contest by attracting disgruntled GOP voters, independents and even some moderate Democrats who shunned his party last fall, according to an Associated Press-Yahoo News poll released Thursday. About two-thirds of them have grown disenchanted with President Bush despite voting for him in 2004, including many GOP-leaning independents, while the remaining third usually support Democrats but like McCain anyway.

While McCain's image with voters has progressed since November, it is far from overwhelmingly strong. Yet he has done better than his two rivals: Opinions of Hillary Rodham Clinton have soured slightly since the fall, while views of Barack Obama have improved though less impressively than McCain's.

"I'm left with McCain as the best of a weak field," said David Chojnacki, 68, a retired judge from West Seneca, N.Y., in a followup interview.

By tracking the same group of roughly 2,000 people throughout the campaign, the AP-Yahoo poll can gauge how individual views are evolving.

The findings of the survey, conducted by Knowledge Networks, provide a preview of one of this fall's battlegrounds. Though some unhappy Republicans will doubtless stay with McCain, voters now shifting toward him include many centrist swing voters who will be targeted by both parties.

One in five overall say they don't know whom they will support in November, showing how volatile the race remains.

The poll shows McCain's appeal has grown while the Democrats' has dwindled — suggesting he may be aided by the continued scuffling between Obama and Clinton, the senators from Illinois and New York, during their prolonged nomination battle.

Just five months ago — before either party had winnowed its field — an AP-Yahoo survey showed people preferred electing an unnamed Democrat over a Republican by 40 percent to 27 percent. Now, McCain gets about 10 percentage points more than the generic Republican got, while Obama and Clinton each get about 5 points less than last fall's nameless Democrat.

More than one in 10 who weren't backing the unnamed Republican candidate last November are supporting McCain, a shift partly offset by a smaller number moving toward Obama or Clinton. Of those now backing McCain, about one-third did not support the generic GOP candidate last November.