Some recent national horserace polls have shown John McCain cutting into Barack Obama’s recent lead. But the Pew Research Center (one of the most reliable polling operations) finds the opposite. In a poll released this a.m., Obama leads 53-39 per cent among likely voters, by far the biggest lead Pew has registered all year.

Pew, by the way, interviews human-to-human, over the phone and includes cell phones in its calls. The sample was huge (2,382 likely voters) and the margin small (plus/minus 2.5 percentage points for the likely voter sample). The polling was conducted Thursday through Sunday.

Other findings of the poll:

• Sarah Palin appears to be a continuing drag on the GOP ticket.

• McCain’s age also has become more of an issue for voters.

• More voters (72 percent) still describe McCain as well-qualified to be president than  say the same for Obama (53 percent).

• Swing voters continue to represent nearly a quarter of the electorate (23 percent).