A news magazine poll shows that the US President, George W Bush, has taken a double-digit lead over his Democratic presidential challenger, John Kerry.
The survey, conducted by Time magazine, showed that 52% of voters support Mr Bush, while 41% back Mr Kerry.
Just 3% said they favour the independent candidate, Ralph Nader, in the sample of 926 likely voters.
The monthly employment figures for the US show that 144,000 jobs were created in August.
But Mr Kerry pointed out that the economy has lost almost one million jobs since Mr Bush took office four years ago.
