On the eve of a watered down Republican Convention in St Paul, Minnesota, a national poll suggests that the race for the White House remains dead even.

According to CNN/Opinion Research Corp poll, released on Sunday night, the Obama-Biden ticket was leading the McCain-Palin ticket by one point, 49 per cent to 48 per cent, a statistical dead heat.

The latest survey was conducted from Friday through Sunday, after the conclusion of the Democrats' show in Denver and after Senator John McCain [Images] chose Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate.

A previous CNN poll, taken just one week earlier, suggested the race between Senators McCain and Barack Obama [Images] was tied at 47 per cent each.

"The convention, particularly Obama's speech, seems to be well-received. And the selection of Sarah Palin as the Grant Old Party running mate, also seems to be well-received. So why is the race still a virtual tie? Probably because the two events created equal and opposite bounces, assuming that either one created a bounce at all," said CNN polling director Keating Holland.

"Sixty-four per cent rated Obama's acceptance speech as excellent or good, giving it significantly higher marks than any other recent acceptance speech. The Democratic Party's favourable ratings went up, and the GOP's favourable ratings went down. Historically speaking, the convention was better than some and worse than others in the public's mind not a home run, but a hit nonetheless," says Holland.

The poll has showed that 40 per cent of Americans are not familiar with Palin, but 38 per cent of those questioned viewed her favourably and 21 per cent unfavourably.

And at a time when Senator McCain has thought of choosing Governor Palin with an eye on the women voters, men appear to have a slightly favourably opinion of Palin than women -- 41 per cent of men view her favourably, five points higher than women.

The CNN poll has shown that 52 per cent have rated the selection of Palin as excellent or pretty good; 46 per cent rate it as fair or poor; but 50 per cent have maintained that she is unqualified to assume the presidency if that becomes necessary. But 45 per cent say she is prepared for the White House.

The latest survey has also shown that the choice of Governor Palin may have minimal effect on the race for the White House -- nearly six in 10 Americans say Palin's selection as McCain's running mate will have no effect on their vote; one in five say it makes them more likely to vote for McCain; one in five say it makes them less likely.

Significantly three fourths of all voters think Senator McCain chose a female running mate specifically because he thought adding a woman to the Republican ticket would help him win in November.

But there is some sobering news for the Republican contender if he believed that the choice of Governor Palin is going to boost the share of the women vote.

"Women now appear slightly more likely to vote for Obama than they did a week ago, 53 per cent now, compared to 50 per cent. But McCain picked up a couple of points among men. More important, McCain solidified his party's base with the Palin selection, dropping Obama's share of the Republican vote six points to just five per cent now. The Palin selection did not help among women that may come later, but it did appeal to Republican loyalists " Holland said.