THE POLL: A CBS News-New York Times national poll on the presidential race.

THE NUMBERS: Barack Obama, 53 percent; John McCain, 39 percent.

OF INTEREST: Obama has moved into a commanding lead in this poll of likely voters after he had 48 percent to McCain's 45 percent among likely voters before last week's town hall debate. Independents have swung back and forth in this poll, but Obama has claimed a clear 51 percent to 33 percent lead in that key group. Four of five of each candidate's supporters say their minds are made up and won't change before the election. About a fifth of voters, 21 percent, say their opinion of McCain has grown worse in the last few weeks, citing his negative attacks and choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate.

DETAILS: Latest poll conducted Oct. 10-13. It included telephone interviews with 1,070 adults nationwide, including 972 likely voters. The sampling error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.