As the Presidential campaign heads into the final stretch, Sen. John McCain is keeping his strong lead with Kentucky voters. In statewide poll by WKYT-TV and The Lexington Herald-Leader, 55 percent of likely voters say they plan to vote for McCain versus 39 percent for Sen. Barack Obama.

The Kentucky poll results come as once again taxes takes the forefront of the war of words between McCain and Obama. Speaking in Florida today, McCain accused Obama of changing his tax plan because Americans “didn't like it.” He said Obama had added a work requirement to a proposal of a 10 percent mortage credit. An Obama aide says the change was made to avoid charges that the proposal gave "welfare" to non-working Americans.

Before heading to Hawaii to visit his ailing grandmother, Obama campaigned in Indiana and attacking McCain's approach to taxes. Speaking before a crowd of some 35,000 people in downtown Indianapolis, Obama again sought to turn traditionally red-state Indiana to blue, telling the throng that McCain's approach to taxes puts "corporations ahead of workers."

The WKYT/The Herald-Leader poll found that the majority of both men and women say they would vote for McCain and his running mate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. The McCain-Palin ticket would get the support of 59 percent of Kentucky men and 51 percent of women. Obama and his running mate Sen. Joseph Biden would garner 37 percent of the male vote and 41 percent of the female vote.

Along racial lines, Obama would be the clear victor in the African-American vote. Nine of every 10 African-Americans would vote for Obama. Among Kentucky white voters, McCain would garner 62 percent of the vote while Obama would get 32 percent.

With the exception of the third Congressional district which is solely made up of Louisville, the poll revealed that McCain leads Obama in all regions of the state. McCain’s strongest support was in the fourth Congressional district which is made up of northern Kentucky followed by the second Congressional district which includes suburban Louisville, Elizabethtown, Bowling Green and Owensboro.

Poll Methodology

WKYT and The Herald-Leader conducted the poll with the assistance of Research 2000 of Olney, Md. Between October 19 and 21, a total of 600 likely voters were interviewed statewide telephone.

Those interviewed were selected by the random variation of the last four digits of telephone numbers. A cross section of exchanges was utilized to ensure and accurate reflection of the state. Quotas were assigned to reflect the voter registration of distribution by county.

The margin of error, according to standards customarily used by statisticians, is no more than plus or minus four percentage points. This means there is a 95 percent probability that the “true” figure would fall within that range if the entire population were sampled. The margin of error is higher for any subgroup, such as gender or party affiliation.