John McCain's convention and his choice of Sarah Palin as a running mate have moved him from 18 points behind to a one-point lead over Barack Obama when voters are asked who is likely to win this year's presidential election, according to a new Rasmussen reports national telephone survey.

Thirty-five percent (35%) say they expect McCain to win, 34% expect an Obama victory, and 30% say the race is too close to call. (see crosstabs).

While McCain's 35% to 34% edge is statistically insignificant, it is a remarkable turnaround from a month ago when 46% expected an Obama victory versus 28% who thought the Republican would win (see trends).

The new survey also found that 45% of voters say the election will be exciting, up from 23% in mid-August. GOP voters are more excited about the election now than Democrats.

Fifty-three percent (53%) of McCain voters say it will be exciting while just 38% of Obama voters say the same. A month ago, just 20% of McCain voters thought the election would be exciting while 29% of Obama voters held that view.

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Obama voters were more enthusiastic about the Democratic Primary competition between Obama and Hillary Clinton. Most Obama voters (58%) found that campaign exciting, a view shared by just 25% of McCain voters. In fact, 31% of McCain voters considered the Obama-Clinton match boring.

Overall, just 9% of voters now expect the Obama-McCain campaign to be boring, down from 21% in August.

Market results are updated on a 24/7 basis by market participants. It McCain and Obama remain very close in both the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll and Electoral College projections. One week after the conventions, Rasmussen Markets data shows the race to be a toss-up. Prior to the past few days, Obama had been heavily favored (current expectations: McCain % Obama %). Market results are updated on a 24/7 basis by market participants. It costs nothing to join and add your voice.

Victory expectations are strongly aligned with preferences. By a 66% to 4% margin, McCain voters think their candidate will win. By a 69% to 4% margin, Obama voters say the same about their candidate.

Overall, 8% of voters expect a McCain landslide while 7% expect a similar victory for Obama.

Twenty-seven percent (27%) of all voters say they’re talking about the campaign an hour or more each day. Twenty-eight percent (28%) say they’re either not discussing it or spend less than 15 minutes a day on the discussion.

Older voters are far more likely to discuss the election than younger voters--51% of those under 30 say they’re spending less than 15 minutes a day discussing the election. Just 21% of senior citizens say the same.

This week, Rasmussen Reports released polling data for South Dakota, Nevada, Missouri, Washington, Alaska, Michigan, Montana, Colorado, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Idaho, New Mexico and North Dakota. Premium Members see demographic crosstabs for all state polling data. Learn More.

Crosstabs available for Premium Members only.