And that shows about 8% undecided. So the final number could be 58-42...
1984 election range.
Because none of the third parties are garnering much real support this time out.
That’s a bit closer than numbers from a week ago when Obama enjoyed an eight-point advantage, his largest lead of the year.
Still, the data continues to suggest a very stable race with Obama as the clear frontrunner. This is the eighteenth straight day that Obama’s support has stayed in the narrow range from 50% to 52% while McCain has been at 44% of 45%
Rasmussen has Obama up by 5 today (50%-45%) -- Obama lead -1 from Oct 12 ...
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/pub...ial_election/daily_presidential_tracking_poll
Other national tracking polls out this morning ...
October 13 - Reuters/CSpan/Zogby Tracking: Obama by 4 (48%-44%) -- Obama lead -2 from Oct 12
October 13 - GW/Battleground Tracking: Obama by 8 (51%-43%) -- Unchanged from Oct 10
So this seems to imply that McCain is catching up a little? A slow rebound in the national polls from the attacks last week or maybe from some other factor. There seems to be a slight bump in McCain's numbers that has me a little worried, any cause for concern for Obama supporters?
There is always noise in polling data of about this magnitude. I don't see much problem here, but I am SURE that Obama's people will deal with it as though it IS a problem. They don't let anything slide.
The percentage of registered voters favoring Obama has been 50%, 51%, or 52% in each Gallup Poll Daily tracking report since Oct. 4. Support for McCain has been a steady 41% to 43% across the same time period. Thus, although the gap between the two candidates has varied from seven to 11 points in recent days, voter preferences have, in fact, been quite stable.
Among typical "likely voters" -- the subset of registered voters who appear most likely to vote on Election Day according to their current voting intentions and past voting behavior -- Obama's lead is a slightly narrower seven points, 51% to 44%. This assumes that about 60% of the voting age population will vote, slightly higher than the 55% who turned out in 2004.
Among a more broadly defined likely voter group that only takes into account current voting intentions -- not past voting behavior -- Obama's lead is the same 10 points as among all registered voters, 53% to 43%. This group represents approximately two-thirds of the general public, a significantly higher proportion than has turned out in any recent election.
Wasn't it Gallup's likely voter criteria we were making fun of earlier in this thread? Or perhaps another one?
Wasn't that the one that had a 13-point swing in a single day, because their criteria was so sloppy and baffling?
Previous elections. We were linking to this article:
http://poq.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/68/4/588?ijkey=053EosjdTO0oc&keytype=ref
It was in 2000, they showed 19-point swings over 72 hours once they switched to their "likely voter" criteria.