NASHVILLE — Democrat Barack Obama has cut Republican John McCain’s lead almost by half in Tennessee, according to a new poll, but the expected Democratic presidential nominee continues to trail U.S. Sen. McCain by 15 points.

The Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of 500 likely voters says Sen. McCain, R-Ariz., now leads U.S. Sen. Obama, D-Ill., in the Volunteer State by 51 percent to 36 percent. Rasmussen’s previous poll in April showed Sen. McCain leading 58 percent to 31 percent.

The latest survey was conducted June 24 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percent.

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga political scientist Robert Swansbrough said “obviously he (Obama) has a challenge here, just as he does in a certain number of states, to bring those voters back into the fold.”

Sen. Obama lost Tennessee’s Feb. 5 presidential primary to fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton by a large percentage — 40.4 percent to U.S. Sen. Clinton’s 53.8 percent. Sen. Obama won only eight, largely urban counties in the state.

Other Rasmussen poll results show Sen. McCain is viewed favorably by 60 percent of voters in the survey and unfavorably by 37 percent, down slightly.

But only 42 percent of those polled see Sen. Obama favorably while more than half — 55 percent — still view him unfavorably. Rasmussen said that is only a marginal improvement since April.

The survey also found that, while 77 percent of voters in Tennessee say they are willing to vote for a black president, just 57 percent say most of their family, friends and co-workers would be willing to do so.

Sen. Obama is expected to become the first black nominee in U.S. history for either of the two major political parties.

Tennessee Democratic Party Chairman Gray Sasser said the overall poll shows there is positive movement.

“We were a long way out, but there’s movement in the right direction,” Mr. Sasser said. “I’d much rather have movement in the right direction.

“The other thing I think it shows, unfortunately, some of the Internet smears and Internet innuendo and the flat-out distortions they’re telling about Sen. Obama, that stuff can take hold,” he said. “We have a challenge here, but anything that is worth doing is never very easy.”

Tennessee Republican Party spokesman Bill Hobbs called the poll “good news obviously for John McCain and Republican candidates.”

He cited the 55 percent of those surveyed who saw Sen. Obama unfavorably, noting, “I think he’s out of touch with what most Tennesseans stand for.”

Mr. Hobbs said Sen. Obama’s opposition to expanding off-shore oil drilling is an example. The Rasmussen poll found 66 percent of Tennessee voters think drilling in offshore oil wells should be allowed to help reduce fuel prices. One in five voters disagreed.

Mr. Hobbs called Sen. Obama the “most liberal person ever nominated” by a major political party.

Earlier this week, Sen. Obama’s deputy campaign manager, Steve Hildebrand, was quoted by The Politico Web site as saying Sen. Obama intended to target 14 states in the general election that President Bush carried in 2004. Georgia was included among the targeted states, but Tennessee was not.

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