John McCain has pulled even with either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama in an AP-Yahoo poll, a far cry from five months ago when this survey said that voters preferred sending an unnamed Democrat to the White House over a Republican by 13 points. The survey, conducted April 2-14, says McCain has accomplished this by bringing disgruntled GOP voters back to the fold, plus attracting independents and some moderate Democrats.

AP says another factor in McGain’s gains is the souring of public opinion on Clinton, a point underlined in this wek’s Washington Post-ABC News poll as well as in many of the state-by-state general election match-up polls where Clinton’s favorability ratings are mostly below 50 percent and where she invariably ranks below McCain and Obama. The poll says views of Obama have improved but not as much as for McCain.

“The survey suggests that those switching to McCain are largely attuned to his personal qualities and McCain may be benefiting as the two Democrats snipe at each other during their prolonged nomination fight,” AP said. “What’s clear is that some Republican-leaning voters who backed Bush in 2004 but lost enthusiasm for him are returning to the GOP fold – along with a smaller but significant number of Democrats who have come to dislike their party’s two contenders.”