McCain grabs lead in latest US presidential poll

John McCain has grabbed the lead in a new opinion poll over rival Barack Obama, in the latest sign of accelerating momentum for the Republican as the key phase dawns in their White House battle.

McCain led Obama 47 percent to 46 percent in a nationwide matchup in the new George Washington University Battleground poll published on Wednesday. The Illinois Democrat had led the same poll by 49 percent to 47 percent in May.

The George Washington survey was the latest poll to show an erosion in Obama's poll numbers, following several weeks of withering attacks by McCain on his national security judgement and celebrity.

It also came days before Obama is expected to unveil his vice presidential pick ahead of the Democratic convention next week, to be followed by McCain's running mate selection and the Republican convention between September 1 and 4.

Other polls have also been showing a McCain spurt.

A Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll out Tuesday gave Obama a slim lead of 45 to 43 percent, within the survey's three point margin of error. In June he had led by 12 points, though other polls at the time had the race slightly closer.

A Quinnipiac University poll on Tuesday also showed Obama's national lead over McCain slipping -- he led 47 to 42 percent, down from a 50 to 41 percent lead nationally in the same poll a month ago.

The George Washington poll suggested that McCain's gains over the last two months were partly fueled by his aggressive demand for an expansion in offshore oil drilling as a way to lower high gasoline prices.

Forty percent of those asked said that McCain, who visited an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday, was the best bet to reduce oil and gas prices, compared to 37 percent for Obama.

In May, 50 percent of those polled thought that Obama could do a best job in lowering prices at the pump, compared to only 31 percent for McCain.

Obama initially opposed McCain's call for offshore drilling, which Democrats say would do little to mitigate high oil prices as extra oil supplies would not hit the market for around a decade.

But as polls show Americans favor more drilling by a large majority, Obama has softened his stand in recent weeks, saying he would agree to some more prospecting as part of a bid to pass a sweeping energy plan.

The George Washington University poll was conducted among 1,003 registered likely voters with a margin of error of plus or minus three percent.
AFP: McCain grabs lead in latest US presidential poll

After 8 years of G.W. this is amazing to say the least. Kind of says something about the candidate the Dems have elected.

Don't blame me, I voted for Clinton.:D

Have a good one!:s4:

Dude- it's a Zogby, fer christ's sake...
Take a look @ how accurate they've been over the past decade, and tell me you think that this is meaningful.

As far as I can tell, Zogby's pools are made up of cartoon characters- so this just reinforces what we already knew-

McCain gets the Loony Tune vote.

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Originally Posted by rhizome

Dude- it's a Zogby, fer christ's sake...
Take a look @ how accurate they've been over the past decade, and tell me you think that this is meaningful.

As far as I can tell, Zogby's pools are made up of cartoon characters- so this just reinforces what we already knew-

McCain gets the Loony Tune vote.

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Rasmussen Reportsâ?¢: The most comprehensive public opinion coverage ever provided for a presidential election.

rasmussen puts up close to the same numbers.

Yeah, but look at Rasmussen's state by state ( ie electoral vote) #'s.

Unless he's got Christ himself in the VP slot, McW gets to retire.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rhizome

Yeah, but look at Rasmussen's state by state ( ie electoral vote) #'s.

Unless he's got Christ himself in the VP slot, McW gets to retire.

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Polling reflects popular vote/votes among non officials.

There have been very few times in history where a candidate has won the popular vote but not won the electoral vote.

I would take take that with a grain of salt.

Quote:

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WikiAnswers - What presidents lost the popular vote but won the electoral college vote

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Just a quick reference of past presidents who have lost the popular vote but won the electoral college.

We've had 43 presidents and only 4 of them have won the electoral college but not the popular vote. Mr. Obama's "guaranteed" victory is slipping further and further away.

Going on History, if he loses the popular vote it seems unlikely that he will win the electoral college as well.

It sure is a close one.

No, it's really not.

F'rnstance, both polls mentioned here automatically do not poll anyone who doesn't have, and answer during the day, a landline telephone.

How many folks under the age of 50 do you know who are home to answer their phone during a weekday?

Poll demographics are all screwed up.

Remember- it's in the interest of the media to make this seem as close as possible, so that more folks will watch the coverage, so that they can sell more advertising.

Take a look @ total #'s of individual donors to each campaign, volunteer hours logged, in-kind donations, registration #'s- it's not all that close.

Hmm, good points. I enjoyed watching that debate with that pastor guy. You never know until it's over, all of this speculation is only that: speculation.

I seem to remember many, many polls in 2004 that showed John Kerry was going to win. I put no faith in these polls.

Times and eras are equally as fallible as man.