GW/Battleground Poll Tightens; NY Times/CBS News Poll and CNN Poll Show Obama Widening Lead

Polls, polls, polls. It seems the media have gone poll crazy. And the conservatives, who always seem to find something wrong with all the polls conducted by the "liberal" media, seem to be ecstatically touting the latest GW/Battleground Poll, where Senator John McCain has drawn within 1 point of Senator Barack Obama. Senator McCain, according to GW/Battleground Poll, has whittled down Obama's lead since he had a high of 13 points just seven days ago, on October 13.

But the Battleground Poll is an exception to the rule. Real Clear Politics shows a national poll average of 6.9 points in Senator Obama's favor. The closest poll to the Battleground Poll is the Rasmussen Reports Poll that shows Obama with a 4-point lead. The furthest is the Pew Research Poll that puts Obama up by 14%. An expanded Gallup Poll (which tracks those likely to vote) puts Senator Obama up by 10% as well.

From GW/Battleground To New York Times/CBS News

And Senator Obama is doing quite well in his favorabililty rating as well. According to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll, since September Obama's numbers have been increasing. So has Senator Biden's. Senator McCain's numbers have remained static and Governor Palin's has rocketed in unfavorability. In fact, Senator Obama has recorded the highest percentage rating of any first term candidate in presidential campaigning in the last 28 years. At the same time, Governor Sarah Palin has recorded the highest unfavorability rating in the New York Times/CBS News Poll history. The poll finds Palin's percentage of unfavorability even higher than those of Dan Quayle, who previously had the highest unfavorable numbers ever polled.

Although the numbers for Senator Obama are good (53% favorable against 33% unfavorable, and up 10% since September), the numbers for his running mate are even better. Senator Joe Biden's favorability rating rose 14%, up to a 50% favorability rating.

At the same time Senator McCain's favorability rating remained constant at 36%, but his unfavorability rating rose 10 points to 45%.

But it is Sarah Palin's unfavorability that might trouble Republican strategists in the last two weeks of the election. Her unfavorability rating rose from 29% to 41% in the past month, a 12-point increase.

The poll was conducted among 518 people, 476 of which were registered voters. Reasons that the McCain-Palin negatives were up ranged from the increased negativism and attacks exhibited by the McCain campaign and his choice of Sarah Palin as a running mate. McCain's poor overall performance in the debates hurt his standing as well.

FromNew York Times/CBS News To CNN Poll of Polls

The CNN/Opinion Research Poll of Polls now puts Senator Obama up by 9 points in their latest survey, 51% to 42%. It is the largest lead in the CNN Poll of Polls since they began polling the two presidential candidates.

The CNN also found that 75% of Americans are angry about the way things are being handled. Another three-quarters say that the current trends are stressing them out. Two-thirds say that they are scared.

Of course, in the volatile political environment that the presidential campaign has become, none of these polls will likely reflect the final outcome numbers on

Election Day. Even the polls taken by CNN/ Opinion Research. The numbers of people disappointed, fearful, and stressed will no doubt increase as the days wind down into Election Day, especially if the polling continues to tighten and the economy does not show noticeable improvement.

Source:

RealClearPolitics.com

NYTimes.com

CNNPolitics.com