Arizona Senator John McCain (R) continues to lead Illinois Senator Barack Obama (D) and former North Carolina Senator John Edwards (D) in early Election 2008 polling.

The latest Rasmussen Reports poll shows McCain with a 46% to 40% advantage over Obama. The Republican lead Edwards by five points, 46% to 41%.

Results for both candidates are similar to earlier surveys. Obama has gained a couple of points after trailing McCain 47% to 39% in our previous survey.

Edwards, now trailing McCain by five percentage points, was down four the last time we polled on this match-up.

In both potential match-ups, McCain is the preferred candidate of male voters, but women prefer his opponents.

Fifty-nine percent (59%) of voters rate McCain favorably and 33% rate him unfavorably. On the Democratic side, Obama leads with a 52% favorable rating compared to 47% for Edwards. Obama, still a relative newcomer on the political scene, earns “very favorable” reviews from one-quarter of voters (25%.) That’s considerably higher than both Edwards (17%) and McCain (16%.)

Forty-seven percent (47%) of voters see McCain as a political moderate. He’s seen as conservative by 26% and liberal by 12%.

For Edwards, 41% see him as politically moderate followed closely by the 39% who say he’s liberal. Obama’s numbers are similar--39% say he’s moderate and 38% say he’s liberal.

McCain leads all Democrats in head-to-head match-ups including Senator Hillary Clinton, former Vice President Al Gore, Senator John Kerry, Governor Tom Vilsack, and Indiana Senator Evan Bayh.

Edwards trails another Republican frontrunner, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. The Democrats’ 2004 Vice Presidential nominee leads Republicans Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee.

Obama, who recently visited New Hampshire, also trails Giuliani. But he leads Romney, Huckabee, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Draft Obama ads began airing in New Hampshire this week and the Senator currently ranks second in support for the Democratic Primary competition.

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