Hotline Daily Tracking Poll: Obama and McCain tied (Obama gains with men/loses with women)

The latest Diageo/Hotline daily tracking poll, released this a.m., again shows McCain/Palin and Obama/Biden tied, 45-45%. In yesterday's release, McCain/Palin led 45-44%, while in the poll completed 9/7 the race was tied 44-44%.

Since yesterday, Obama/Biden made notable gains among men, cutting their 12% deficit to just 5%. At the same time, however, the Dem ticket lost ground among women; their lead -- which had been 13% on 9/7 and 9% on 9/8 -- has now fallen to just 5%.

McCain/Palin's lead among Inds, which jumped to 19% yesterday, is back to 15% (it had been 14% on 9/7). Among GOPers, the GOP ticket leads 88-5% (up slightly from 87-6% yesterday), and among Dems, the Dem ticket leads 84-9% (up slightly from 82-11% yesterday).

Looking more closely at the data, McCain/Palin does strikingly better among RVs disenchanted with the Bush Admin. than Obama/Biden does among RVs who feel positively about the direction of the country. The GOP ticket pulls more than one-quarter (26%) of RVs who disapprove of Bush, while Obama/Biden draws just 6% of RVs who approve of POTUS.

Similarly, McCain/Palin garners 30% of respondents who feel the U.S. is moving in the wrong direction, while Obama/Biden attracts only 13% of respondents who say the U.S. is going in the right direction.

Today's Diageo/Hotline survey, conducted 9/7-9 by FD, is the third daily installment tracking the two tickets. Party ID breakdown for the 902 RV sample is 43%D, 34%R, 21%I.

http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2008/09/diageohotline_t_1.html#comments