A recent poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire shows that John McCain and Barack Obama are statistically running neck-to-neck in New Hampshire.

Barack Obama has 46 percent of the votes, 3 percent more than John McCain who has 43 percent of the votes. 8 percent remain undecided.  

McCain seems to be popular among conservatives, older voters and those living near Massachusetts, while Obama has the votes of liberals, younger voters and those living along the seacoast.

New Hampshire is only worth 4 electoral votes, but its famously independent voting electorate has repeatedly given close results at the presidential level. It voted for John Kerry by 1 percentage point in 2004 and for George Bush by 3 points in 2000.

The state has already played a vital role in the 2008 presidential process and is largely responsible for John McCain’s come-from-behind victory that retrieved the Arizona senator’s White House hopes while Hillary Clinton’s surprising win set the stage for the prolonged Democratic primary.

The University of New Hampshire poll of 475 likely voters was conducted by telephone from July 11-20. The margin of sampling error was plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.