Barack Obama and John McCain were tied in the national tracking poll heading into the convention. Obama has come out with an eight-point "bounce'' in the Gallup daily track, which will take another measure today as McCain touts his running mate.
by Mark Silva
DENVER - Barack Obama's "convention bounce'' has put him eight percentage points ahead of Republican rival John McCain in the latest daily tracking poll - with McCain hoping that his naming of a running mate today will start reining in his opponent's advantage heading into next week's Republican National Convention.
It's Obama 49, McCain 41, in the latest Gallup Poll track.
The two had been virtually tied in the national daily tracking surveyl that Gallup runs heading into the first convention, and if McCain gets his own bump from his convention, they could be tied again coming out of the conventions.
"Obama's significant lead over McCain almost certainly reflects the effects of the Democratic National Convention,'' Gallup's Jeff Jones reports today.
"The two presidential candidates were tied at 45 percent in the last Gallup Poll Daily tracking results conducted entirely before the convention began,'' Jones notes.
These latest results come from interviews conducted Tuesday through Thursday night, though most of the interviewing was concluded before Obama's televised acceptance speech here. So there is a potential for a slightly larger spread between the two when today's tracking is finished.
The calculation of Obama's convention bounce may also be complicated by the announcement of McCain's running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, today, as it gains widespread attention on the day that Obama and his own running mate, Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, are taking the Democratic Party's ticket on tour.
"Obama has clearly seen a rise in the polls since the convention began with a four-point increase in his support (from 45 to 49 percent) with the margin moving eight points in his favor,'' Jones notes. "Obama's largest advantage at any point in the campaign was a nine-point lead recorded July 24-26, so as his party's convention concludes, he is about as strongly positioned as he has been at any point this year. ''
The poll is a result of interviews of 2,727 registered voters conducted Tuesday through Thursday, with a possible margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points.
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