By ANTARA News/AFP,
Juneau, Alaska : Democrat Barack Obama opened a double-digit lead over rival John McCain in a key opinion poll Saturday while investigators found Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin had abused her powers as Alaska governor.
Just over three weeks from the November 4 vote, Obama leads McCain 52 percent to 41 percent among registered voters, according to the latest survey conducted by Newsweek magazine.
A similar poll a month ago showed the two candidates tied at 46 percent.
As many as 86 percent of voters said they were dissatisfied with the way things were going in the United States, and only 10 percent said they were satisfied.
With voters preoccupied by the faltering economy, Obama has broadened his base of support. According to the survey, he now leads McCain among men 54 percent to 40 percent and women 50 percent to 41 percent.
Even those aged over 65, a formerly solid Republican constituency, now back Obama over McCain 49 to 43 percent.
The numbers are set against President George W. Bush`s job approval rating dropping to just 25 percent, a record low for any modern president, the Newsweek poll showed.
Meanwhile, in a long-awaited 263-page report released by Alaska`s Legislative Council, investigator Steve Branchflower said on Friday that Republican vice presidential pick Sarah Palin was guilty of violating ethics rules for public officials.
He said Palin had allowed her husband Todd Palin to use the Alaska governor`s office and its resources to pressure officials to fire her former brother-in-law, state trooper Mike Wooten.
“Governor Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda… to get Trooper Michael Wooten fired,” the report said.
“She had the authority and power to require Mr Palin to cease contacting subordinates, but she failed to act,” the report added.
A Republican-dominated bi-partisan committee had launched the investigation following Palin`s decision to sack Alaska public safety commissioner Walt Monegan in July.
Monegan claimed he was fired because of his refusal to sack Wooten, who had been involved in an acrimonious divorce with Palin`s younger sister in 2005.
McCain-Palin spokeswoman Meg Stapleton said the report showed Palin had acted “properly and lawfully” in axing Monegan, dismissing the investigation as politically motivated.
Palin, the first woman to be selected on a Republican ticket, was plucked from political obscurity in Alaska by the Arizona senator in late August to be his running mate in the November 4 elections.
A devout Christian mother-of-five who is pro-life and a committed hunter, she fired up the party`s conservative base, which had not fully embraced McCain.
But her lack of national and foreign experience raised doubts among observers about McCain`s judgment.
Palin, 44, has become McCain`s chief attack dog against Obama, drawing thousands of people to her rallies, and accusing the Chicago senator at the weekend of “palling around with terrorists.”
As Obama, 47, took a hefty lead in the polls even in battleground states, McCain`s campaign sought to refocus its fight for the White House away from the economy.
But a series of negatives ads casting doubt on Obama`s character and his past associations whipped up anger at the Republican rallies.
After the US Secret Service said Thursday it was investigating an alleged death threat shouted at a Florida rally, McCain was forced to tone down the attacks.
“We want to fight, and I will fight, but we will be respectful. I admire Senator Obama and his accomplishments and I will respect him,” McCain, 72, told a Minnesota rally Friday.
Obama, who has kept his campaign focused on the country`s worst economic crisis since the Great Depression in the 1930s, on Friday rebuked McCain for preaching a politics of “anger and division.”
“In the last couple of days we have seen a barrage of nasty insinuations and attacks and I am sure we will see much more over the next 25 days,” he told an Ohio rally.
“It`s easy to rile up a crowd by stoking anger and division. But that is not what we need now in the United States, the times are too serious.”
McCain, however, vowed to come up from behind. “How many times, my friends, have the pundits written off the McCain campaign?” he told the cheering crowd.
“We`re going to fool `em again, my friend!”