A poll indicates that Senator John McCain, the Republican U.S. presidential candidate has still maintained a big lead in Kentucky; however, his advantage over his Democratic rival, Senator Barack Obama, has slipped.

According to Sunday reports of The Courier-Journal’s Bluegrass Poll, McCain leads Obama, by 53 percent to 41 percent likely votes for the forthcoming presidential election.

Obama’s biggest stronghold in Kentucky is Jefferson County, containing the city of Louisville - where Obama posted a big, 52-42 percent, advantage over McCain.

This latest poll, with a margin of error of 3.7 percentage points, included 717 likely voters from September 22-25.

The poll, by the way of a telephone survey, was conducted for The Courier-Journal by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. of Washington D.C., before Friday’s first U.S. presidential debate between the two White House hopefuls.

The newspaper noted that though McCain’s lead over Obama was substantial, it was much lesser than the 18- to 20-point leads McCain held in previous polls.