THE RACE: The presidential race nationally

THE NUMBERS (CBS News)

Barack Obama, 45 percent

John McCain, 39 percent

___

OF INTEREST:

Obama's lead in the CBS News poll has not changed since June. Combining undecided voters with those who favor one candidate but say they may switch, about four in 10 have not made a final decision. Among the likeliest to be undecided are supporters of Hillary Rodham Clinton, 24 percent, and women, 17 percent. McCain now is viewed as more believable than Obama: 49 percent say he says what he believes, compared to 42 percent for Obama. In May, just over half said each was believable. Fifty-three percent of voters say they are paying a lot of attention to the campaign - a level not surpassed during the 2004 campaign until October of that year. Three-quarters want the next president to pay more attention to domestic rather than foreign policy issues.

___

The CBS News poll was conducted from July 31-Aug. 5 and included interviews with 906 registered voters. It had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.