Opinion: L.A. Times/Bloomberg poll results released later today

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A recent Newsweek poll, showing Barack Obama with a 15-percentage-point lead over John McCain, left many of the folks closely watching the presidential race scratching their heads.

With other polls showing a closer race, did the Newsweek survey accurately detect a somewhat delayed Obama ‘bounce’ following the official end of Hillary Clinton’s campaign? Or did the magazine get it wrong?

A just-completed L.A. Times/Bloomberg national poll may help clarify the confusion. We cannot reveal the precise figures quite yet; for the results, check LATimes.com about 5 p.m. EDT (2 p.m. PDT) today.

The survey not only asked registered voters their preferences in the head-to-head race between McCain and Obama but, in a second question, specifically included Ralph Nader and Bob Barr as choices to try to determine how their presidential candidacies might affect November’s main event.

The poll also gauged voter attitudes toward Obama and McCain on a raft of issues and characteristics, including which has the right experience to be president and which has more honesty and integrity. And one of the poll’s most dramatic findings concerned differing enthusiasm levels among their backers.

-- Don Frederick