Democratic presumptive Presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama has now taken a 6 percent lead over GOP senator John McCain in the latest Gallup Daily tracking poll. A sign of increasing Democratic party unity?
Barack Obama is enjoying a modest bump in support following Hillary Clinton’s exit from the presidential race. The latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking update finds Obama leading Republican John McCain, 48% to 42%, among registered voters nationwide
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Gallup notes that this poll is definitely progress for McCain:
Obama has consistently held a lead of five to seven percentage points each night since it was reported that Hillary Clinton intended to suspend her campaign. These represent Obama’s strongest showing versus McCain to date in Gallup Poll Daily tracking of registered voters’ presidential election preferences. For much of the time since Gallup began tracking general election preferences in mid-March, McCain and Obama have been in a statistical dead heat.
Rasmussen Reports also finds Obama ahead — and picking up most Democrats but a bit weak on independent voters when running against McCain:
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows Barack Obama attracts 48% of the vote while John McCain earns 40%. When “leaners” are included, Obama leads 50% to 44%. Last Tuesday, just before Obama clinched the nomination, the candidates were tied at 46% . Data from Rasmussen Markets gives Obama a 62.8% chance of winning. Tracking polls are updated at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time each day.
Obama is supported by 81% of Democrats and now holds a very modest three-point edge over McCain among unaffiliated voters. Both those figures reflect a significant improvement over the past week. McCain attracts 83% of Republicans Still, 30% of all voters either have no preference at this time or could change their vote before Election Day.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.