The presidential race is closing in the three major battleground states, with Republican John McCain holding an advantage among white male voters and Democrat Barack Obama keeping his lead among the youngest voters, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll.

McCain and Obama are evenly poised in Colorado, Michigan and Minnesota while the Illinois senator has an edge in Wisconsin, according to the poll conducted in partnership with the Wall Street Journal during the past week.  

Demographic trends show that McCain has a commendable fan following amongst white male voters. He leads by more than 10 percentage points in each state except Wisconsin, where Sen. Obama trails by nine points. Sen. Obama still leads among voters in the 18 to 34 age group.

“If McCain is going to catch Obama, it’s almost certainly going to come from taking white voters away,” said Peter A. Brown, the poll's assistant director. But “Obama doesn’t have to win a majority of white voters to become president of the United States. He has to do reasonably well, and he’s still meeting that threshold.”

The surveys are part of a four-month long effort to gauge voter sentiment in key battleground states that could establish the outcome of the presidential race.