Barack Obama leads his Republican rival John McCain by more than seven clear points in the race for the White House.
The Illinois senator took the lead as his rival's response to the economic crisis engulfing the country was widely seen as stumbling and ill-considered in recent weeks.
With a little more than three weeks left to the election, Mr McCain will be looking for a game-changing moment to get his campaign back on track.
On Friday, US investigators found his vice-presidential running mate Sarah Palin had abused her power as Alaska's governor by pressuring officials to dismiss her brother-in-law Mike Wooten, a state trooper, following a messy divorce from her sister.
Eight states - Ohio, Florida, Nevada, North Carolina, Missouri, Indiana, Colorado and West Virginia - are still too close to call and the potential for a so-called October surprise, an event with the potential to change the state of the race, remains in what has been one of the most exciting US elections in recent memory.
The race took an aggressively negative turn last weekend when the McCain campaign linked Mr Obama to a domestic terrorist and the Democrats hit back, bringing up Mr McCain's involvement in the Keating Five scandal of the 1980s.
But both candidates took a step back this weekend after anger came to the fore on the campaign trail.
At a town hall event on Friday in Lakeville, Minnesota, Mr McCain shook his head and quickly took the microphone from a woman who called Mr Obama "an Arab".
"No, ma'am," Mr McCain said.
"He's a decent family man, a citizen, that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues."
Later, the Arizona senator went on: "We want a fight and I will fight, but we will be respectful. I admire Senator Obama and his accomplishments."
Mr McCain was booed at his own rally when he said that his rival "was a person that you do not have to be scared of as president of the US", but his comments were praised by his rival.
