Question:
McCain leads Obama by a firm 48
percent to 36 percent statewide with 10 percent undecided.

Poll Demographics
The sample varied somewhat from the U.S. Census Bureau’s latest available estimates
for age, race and gender proportions within the state. Such variation commonly occurs
because certain demographic groups are more difficult to contact. The data were thus
weighted to more closely match Census projections for these demographics. Here are
the Census data, the sample data, and the weights:
Census Sample Weight Result
Age:
18-34 29.8% 17.9% 1.67 31.5%
35-49 28.7% 25.3% 1.13 29.1%
50-64 24.5% 31.6% 0.78 24.2%
65+ 16.9% 25.3% 0.67 15.3%
Race:
White 82.1% 82.1% 1.00 80.4%
Black 15.5% 12.8% 1.00 14.2%
Other 2.4% 5.0% 1.00 5.5%
Gender:
Male 48.1% 44.7% 1.08 48.1%
Female 51.9% 55.3% 0.94 51.9%
Small variations in reported percentages (1% or less) sometimes result from rounding
variations in different statistical procedures or the way different programs handle
population weights.

About this Poll
The poll was conducted by telephone Sept. 15-27 by students in the College of Mass
Communication at Middle Tennessee State University. Students interviewed 635 people
age 18 or older chosen at random from the state population. The poll has an estimated
error margin of ± 4 percentage points at the 95% level of confidence. Theoretically, this
means that a sample of this size should produce a statistical portrait of the population
within 4 percentage points 95 out of 100 times. Other factors, such as question wording,
also affect the outcome of a survey. Error margins are greater for sample subgroups.