Opinion: Ticket national electoral map: McCain trimming Obama’s lead

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Yes, we know we’re late with last week’s national electoral map. It’s a long story. But here it is anyway, showing that Sen. John McCain continued to gain ground on Sen. Barack Obama in national polls. (See also how the experience factor is dramatically boosting McCain in today’s new L.A. Times Poll here too into a virtual dead heat with Obama).

Now, state polls are beginning to show the same closing trend. According to this electoral map produced by Rove&Co., the Arizona senator gained 11 electoral votes in the week before last, including votes gained by picking up Missouri from the toss-up column.

McCain also closed where Obama still leads, in Wisconsin, and turned West Virginia into a dead heat. Obama’s hypothetical national lead continues at 260 electoral votes to McCain’s 194.

For previous weeks’ charts, click on the Read more line and follow the chart. The methodology is also published down there.

Our previous charts are also available by clicking on the Electoral College or Electoral Map lines in the subject cloud in the right-hand column here.

-- Andrew Malcolm

Map reproduced by permission of Rove&Co.

For each state, the map uses the average of all public telephone polls (internet polls are not included in the average) taken within 30 days of the most recent poll available in each state.

For example, if the most recent poll in Montana was taken on July 15, the average includes all polls conducted between June 15 and July 15.

States within a three-point lead for McCain or Obama are classified as toss-ups; states outside the three-point lead are allocated to the respective candidate.

There is no polling data available for the District of Columbia, but its three electoral votes are allocated to Obama.