U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama widened his lead over Republican hopeful John McCain in the recent two national polls released Monday.

According to a poll conducted by USA Today after the Democratic National Convention held in Denver, Colorado, in late August, the Illinois Senator led McCain by 7 percentage points among registered voters, at 50 percent to 43 percent.

A previous poll taken by the newspaper on Aug. 21 to 23 showed that Obama only had 4-point lead.

Another poll released by the CBS Monday gave Obama 9-point lead over the Arizona Senator, who is to officially receive his nomination at the ongoing Republican National Convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota from Sept. 1 to 4.

The CBS poll conducted between Aug. 29 and 31 also found that 71 percent of those surveyed said they were watching Obama's acceptance speech Thursday night in the INVESCO stadium where about 84,000 people were at present.

The poll also showed that 37 percent of independent voters favored Obama, while 43 percent supported McCain, who used to have 12-point lead among the group.

Women voters also gave Obama 14-point lead over McCain, it added.

However, a CNN poll released Sunday showed the tied race between two presidential hopefuls with Obama at 49 percent and McCain at 48 percent.

(Xinhua News Agency September 2, 2008)