Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama won the large, left-leaning state of New York and its 31 electoral votes on Tuesday as expected, three US television networks said.

CBS, CNN and NBC all projected an Obama victory in New York, which is the third biggest electoral vote prize in the election after California and Texas.

New York has voted Democratic by big margins in presidential elections since 1988 and Obama went into Tuesday`s polling with an almost 30-point edge over McCain, according to the non-partisan RealClearPolitics.com polling average

Democratic Senator John Kerry beat President George W. Bush in New York with 59 percent of the vote.