Opinion: National electoral map: McCain gains Florida, closes elsewhere

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The electoral college is now the closest it’s been since June 10, with McCain picking up 27 electoral votes since last week by moving Florida into his column. Obama still leads McCain with 260 electoral votes to McCain’s 221 votes, with 57 as a tossup. Obama’s lead also has slipped to just 4 points in several key battleground states, including Michigan (17 EV), New Mexico (5 EV), and Pennsylvania (21 EV), putting them on the cusp of becoming tossups.

For a chart showing the weekly movements since March and an explanation of the research’s methodology, click on the Read more line below ...

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 3-point lead for McCain or Obama are classified as tossups; states outside the 3-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.

-- Andrew Malcolm

Map and chart courtesy of Karl Rove & Co.