A new poll released Thursday shows Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama holding a significant 16 point lead of GOP nominee John McCain.

The SurveyUSA/WBZ-TV poll, conducted Monday and Tuesday, found that 55 percent of 679 likely voters in the Bay State are supporting the Illinois Democrat while 39 percent are backing the Arizona Republican. Three percent chose to support an alternative candidate and two percent are undecided.

Geographically, the poll found that Obama leads by 20 points in the Boston area and 15 points the western and central parts of the state. He also betters McCain among men and women, younger and older voters and richer and poorer voters.

McCain, however, leads among Independent voters, which made up 37 percent of respondents. He leads Obama in that group 50 percent to 41 percent. McCain also beats Obama among respondents that do not support abortion rights, those that own a gun and those that are not "intellectuals."

SurveyUSA also pointed out in its release that while a 16-point advantage is substantial, Obama is not leading McCain by as significant a margin that John Kerry (D-Boston) and Al Gore (D-Tenn.) won the state by in their presidential runs 2004 and 2000. Kerry carried his home state by 25 points in 2004 and Gore won the Bay State by 27 points in 2000.

There was a 3.8 percent margin of error in the poll. Check out the full results here.