Rasmussen, 8/14: Obama 43%, McCain 42% (with leaners, Obama 47%, McCain 46%)

Thursday, August 14, 2008

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows Barack Obama attracting 43% of the vote while John McCain earns 42%. When "leaners" are included, it’s Obama 47% and McCain 46% (see recent daily results). Tracking Polls are released at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time each day.

The race for the White House remains remarkably stable. With leaners, Obama’s support has stayed between 46% and 48% every day for the past two weeks. During that same time frame, McCain has been at 46% or 47% every day.

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Obama leads among voters who make less than $40,000 a year or more than $100,000 annually. McCain leads above those in between. Among Investors, McCain leads 50% to 45% while Obama leads among non-Investors 53% to 40% (more demographic data for Premium Members via the Daily Snapshot).

McCain is now viewed favorably by 55% of the nation’s voters, Obama by 54% (see trends). Other key stats of Election 2008 are updated daily at Obama-McCain: By the Numbers.

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The Rasmussen Reports Balance of Power Calculator currently shows now Obama leading in states with 210 Electoral College votes while McCain leads in states with 165 votes. When leaners are included, it’s Obama 273, McCain 227. Rasmussen Markets data gives Obama a % chance of winning the White House.

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Like all polling firms, Rasmussen Reports weights its data to reflect the population at large. Among other targets, Rasmussen Reports weights data by political party affiliation using a dynamic weighting process. Our baseline targets are established based upon survey interviews with a sample of adults nationwide completed during the preceding three months (a total of 45,000 interviews). For the month of August, the targets are 40.6% Democrat, 31.6% Republican, and 27.8% unaffiliated. For July, the targets were 41.4% Democrat, 31.5% Republican, and 27.1% unaffiliated (see party trends and analysis).

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Where do the voters stand in all of this? Thirty-six percent (36%) say they are politically conservative, including 16% who say they are Very Conservative. Thirty-seven percent (37%) say they are politically moderate and 25% claim to be politically liberal. That last figure includes 8% who are Very Liberal.

Compared to four years ago, the number of conservatives is little changed but the number of liberal is up from 17%.