Gallup Daily Monday 9/29: Obama Maintains 8-Point Lead (50-42)

PRINCETON, NJ -- The latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking update, based on Sept. 26-28 polling, shows Barack Obama with a 50% to 42% lead over John McCain, unchanged from the prior report.

The trend on the presidential horserace showed Obama building momentum heading into Friday's debate, moving from a tie earlier in the week to a five percentage point Obama advantage through Friday interviewing (most of which was conducted before the debate took place). The debate apparently has done nothing to halt or reverse that momentum. Today's report includes two full days of interviewing following Friday night's debate, both of which show Obama with a healthy advantage over McCain. Tuesday's report will provide the first fully post-debate three-day rolling average of voter preferences in the presidential election.

A USA Today/Gallup poll conducted on Saturday showed that Americans who saw the debate were more likely to say that Obama did a better job than McCain.

Obama's 50% level of support matches his high for the campaign, and his eight-point lead is just one percentage point below his largest, achieved after his international trip in late July...

http://www.gallup.com/poll/110788/Gallup-Daily-Obama-Maintains-8Point-Lead.aspx

...that Obama's showing was solely due to some mythical huge polling day on Thursday, and that, now that it had dropped off, his poll numbers would quickly come down. :crazy:

"Guess this pretty much shoots down the experts on here that were assuring us that a huge Obama day (+17) would drop off today."

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2093201/posts

Looks like there's one freeper with an ounce of intelligence! :rofl:

Barring major freak-outs the first debate has the most power to move numbers. I expect this race to be around 8% until a possible break-out the last week of the race.

The first debate (barring freak out)is usually the most important and the rest "not so much?"
Why is that?
Do people usually make up their minds from the first debate and then it takes something really "major" to change them?

And you know what they say about first impressions.

Plus...perhaps many folks are just now really tuning in to the election and getting their first look.
"Jeez, Marge, this young man doesn't seem like the wild-eyed, terrorist Muslim your aunt's e-mails say he is."

"The trend on the presidential horserace showed Obama building momentum heading into Friday's debate, moving from a tie earlier in the week to a five percentage point Obama advantage through Friday interviewing (most of which was conducted before the debate took place). The debate apparently has done nothing to halt or reverse that momentum. Today's report includes two full days of interviewing following Friday night's debate, both of which show Obama with a healthy advantage over McCain." :D