Damn the polls, full speed ahead at McCain rallies

By Andy Sullivan

PERKASIE, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - John McCain's supporters aren't about to let a bunch of poll numbers get them down.

Despite a raft of surveys that show the Republican presidential candidate trailing Democratic rival Barack Obama by significant margins, McCain backers say they're confident their candidate will win Tuesday's election.

"I don't believe the polls, to tell you the truth. I'm very hopeful," said substitute teacher Pam Heminger at a rally on Saturday in Springfield, Virginia.

Many conservatives argue they don't get a fair shake from what they see as a liberal-leaning news media, and several McCain supporters said they thought that bias extended to polling organizations as well.

"I don't care about the polls. I think they're designed to affect people's emotions," said photographer Jan Ogle.

Virginia Republican Senate candidate Jim Gilmore echoed that sentiment at a rally with McCain in Newport News.

"The polling up to this point has been designed to discourage our voters from going to the polls," said Gilmore, who is trailing Democrat Mark Warner by roughly 30 percentage points. "We're not going to let that happen."

Obama leads McCain by an average of 6.8 percentage points nationally, according to the Web site Real Clear Politics.

McCain's advisers argue they're closing the gap. The candidate himself, whose campaign nearly imploded in the summer of 2007, seems undaunted by his underdog status.

"The pundits have written us off just like they've done several times before, bless them," McCain said in Newport News. "We're a couple points down, but we're coming back."

Some of his supporters aren't so sure.

At a rally in Pennsylvania, where McCain trails by an average of 7.5 percentage points, New Jersey retiree Genevieve Godlewsky said she is praying the rosary seven times a day to prevent a victory by Obama, who she said would turn the country into a Marxist state.

"Please, we don't want to go into slavery. Holy Mother of God, bless us, help us. I'm really worried," she said.

In Virginia, where McCain trails by an average of 6.5 percentage points, Heminger sees ominous signs as well. Most of her friends and neighbors support McCain, she said, but Obama volunteers have been thick on the ground in her neighborhood.

"It has been a flood of Obama people, I've seen tons of 'em. And none for McCain," she said.