A new presidential survey, with a sampling of 1,200 voters, gives Sen. Barack Obama an 8-point lead among Washington voters: Obama comes in at 47 percent to 39 percent for Republican Sen. John McCain.

The survey was done for the firm of Strategies 360 by Democratic pollster Don McDonough, who has a record of spotting early signs of strength and weakness in candidates for Congress and municipal office.

The Obama advantage is less than the recent 14-point lead registered in a major indepedent survey. It indicates that Washington is barely - just barely - a "battleground" state.

The poll found McCain running far ahead of the president of his party. A total of 61 percent of those surveyed had a negative opinion of President Bush, with 48 percent registering a "hard negative" according to Strategies 360 president Ron Dotzauer.

By contrast, voters broke nearly even on McCain - 44 percent viewing him positively, 46 percent with negative feelings.

Obama was a big winner in Democrats' February caucuses, but the state also has a large reservoir of Hillary Clinton supporters.

The Democratic nominee-in-waiting was viewed positively by 54 percent of those surveyed, negatively by 37 percent.

The survey was completed last Thursday, June 26. It had a margin-of-error of plus or minus 2.75 percent.