With less than two weeks remaining in the race, a clear favorite has been established.

Barack Obama leads John McCain, 54 percent to 46 percent, in an Amazon.com poll tracking the sale of Halloween masks representing the two presidential candidates.

Laugh if you want, but it’s a spread that very closely mirrors national polls showing Obama in the lead among would-be voters. And BuyCostumes.com, tracking the sales history of Halloween masks representing presidential candidates back to 1980, has found that the winner of the mask race during an election year was the winner — every time — in the election.

As of last week, Leland Van Andler, owner of Lelands Just For Fun in Hermosa Beach, had sold all seven of the Obama masks he ordered and none of the McCain masks.

“You have to look at the masks, though,” Van Andler said. “McCain isn’t a very good mask.”

But The Party Shop in Moorpark is bucking the national trend and showing strong sales for McCain. “McCain is selling 3 to 1,” Shelia Villata said. “Both masks are pretty good likenesses of the candidates, but I think it has to do with where we live why McCain is selling better.”

It’s not just the presidential candidates who have been caricatured for Halloween costumes. Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin has her own mask, complete with frameless glasses and elephant earrings.

But they’re hard to come by.

Online retailer Amazon.com has the mask in stock, but other Web sites list the Palin mask as “coming soon.” And good luck finding Palin in your local costume store.

Nadia Saivy, manager of Adele’s of Hollywood, said the vice presidential candidates were selected too late in the mask-making game for most manufacturers.

“We’ve still had people calling about her, but they weren’t able to get it made fast enough,” she said. “Mask makers spend a lot of time molding and creating the masks, so the ones that are out there were made quickly and may be low quality.”

And even though Hillary Clinton and, for that matter, Abraham Lincoln, aren’t contenders in this year’s election, their likenesses are still pulling in their fair share of votes at costume-store cash registers across the country.

In this closely scrutinized election year, such figures are among the top-selling costumes, but there are plenty of other costume ideas out there if you prefer to confine your political preferences to the voting booth.

Adult costumes have grown up and exploded in popularity in recent years, with looks ranging from sexy police officers to queen bees for women and Indiana Jones to “Sugar Daddy” costumes for men.

“Halloween is a holiday for women, but men go along with it,” Van Andler said, adding that about 70 percent of his customers are women.

Pop culture is often reflected in the most popular Halloween trends. There will be plenty of Michael Phelps imposters walking around with eight gold medals on their chests and the box-office success of the latest Batman film, “The Dark Knight,” has made Heath Ledger’s character, The Joker, one of the hottest looks of 2008.

“Superheroes are always big, and guys come into the store knowing what they want to buy,” said Steve Elowitz of Hollywood Toys & Costumes. “The ladies prefer to look through the costumes to find one they like.”

Also high on the lists of young women?

“A recent trend is the sexier costumes,” Saivy said. “They are top sellers, so the companies keep making them.”

Witches and pirates consistently top the lists for adults and kids, but the influence of Hollywood can be seen on the tween set: Mitchie from the Disney movie “Camp Rock” and Hannah Montana are two of the most popular costumes this year among the 10- to-12-year-old set, said Roxanne Truesdell, a spokeswoman for the Disney Store.

For boys, Buzz Lightyear and mini-Jokers top the list, while the enduring appeal of Snow White and Sleeping Beauty remain popular with girls.

And while Elvis and Marilyn Monroe have been gone for decades, they still remain two of the hottest costumes.

The National Retail Federation predicts that total Halloween spending in the U.S. will reach $5.77 billion this year, with the average person shelling out $24.17 on costumes.

With the holiday falling on a Friday night, there will be plenty of opportunities to celebrate.

Mitch Rufka, 30, of Hermosa Beach said he plans to take advantage of the holiday’s mischievous side.

“Since I’m supposed to be a mature professional, I use Halloween as my one chance to act immature, which is why I always dress up in some type of animal costume that hides my identity,” said Rufka, a legal and corporate recruiter. “Having no one know who you are is a great setup to act wild all night.”