As the campaign heads into what may well be the event that defines that remaining four weeks of the campaign, Barack Obama continues to hold a steady lead over John McCain.
In the Rasmussen tracking poll, Obama continues to hold the eight-point lead he had yesterday:
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows Barack Obama attracting 52% of the vote while John McCain earns 44%. This is the second straight day that Obama has led by eight percentage points, his largest lead of the year. For the past twelve days, Obama’s support has ranged from 50% to 52% while McCain has been at 44% of 45% every day
In the Gallup Daily poll, meanwhile, Obama has expanded his lead to nine points for only the second time:
PRINCETON, NJ — The latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking poll shows registered voters preferring Barack Obama to John McCain for president by 51% to 42%.
The nine percentage point lead in Oct. 4-6 tracking matches Obama’s highest to date for the campaign, and the highest for either candidate. Obama led McCain by 49% to 40% near the tail end of his international trip in late July. (To view the complete trend since March 7, 2008, click here.)
Obama has now held a statistically significant lead since Sept. 24-26 polling and has not trailed McCain since Sept. 13-15, roughly coinciding with the intensification of the financial crisis.
McCain needs a game-changer, soon, or this race really will be over.
