New poll shows Udall, Obama up

Presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has a 5-point lead over likely Republican opponent John McCain in Colorado, according to a new poll released Wednesday.

The survey also shows Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mark Udall with a 10-point lead over Republican candidate Bob Schaffer, and indicates widespread support for a proposed constitutional amendment banning discrimination or preferential treatment in public employment, contracting or education.

Obama leads McCain 49 percent to 44 percent in the survey, conducted by Qunnipiac University, the Wall Street Journal, and washingtonpost.com. The poll was conducted among 1,357 likely Colorado voters and has a margin of error of +/- 2.7 percent.

The Colorado poll shows Obama leading among every age group surveyed. He holds a 51-39 lead among independent voters and a 14-point lead over McCain among female Coloradans surveyed.

And despite concerns about Obama's ability to attract Latino voters, the U.S. Senator from Illinois was preferred by Colorado Hispanics 62-36 percent, the poll found.

McCain held a 50-45 percent lead, though, among male Colorado voters in the poll.

The Qunnipiac poll of the Colorado U.S. Senate race showed Udall with a 48-38 percent lead over Schaffer. It also gave Udall a 54-27 percent edge among independent voters; a third of Colorado voters are registered "unaffiliated."

Those numbers are close to the results of a Rasmussen poll released last week; that Rasmussen poll showed Udall with a 9-point lead over Schaffer.

The poll also showed Colorado voters overwhelmingly support a ballot initiative prohibiting the use of preferences on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin for state hiring, contracting or school admission. Voters surveyed supported the initiative 66-15 percent.