Regardless of their own political preferences, the majority of Americans expect Barack Obama to win the election, writes the president of the Pew Research Center, Andrew Kohut, in the New York Times.

“Barack Obama leads John McCain by a 52-percent-to-36 percent margin in Pew’s latest survey, and while uncertainties about the final outcome remain, Americans are no longer deadlocked over who’s going to win the election. Regardless of their own preferences, they pick Mr. Obama by a wide margin.

“What happened during the last month to change the polls and the American public’s assessment of who is going to win? In part, the answer is simple: the campaign happened and it mattered. But the Wall Street meltdown happened and it mattered, too.”

Read the full story here.