Obama takes 7-point lead on McCain (Zogby) 50-43

[kskiska]

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democrat Barack Obama has opened a 7-point lead over Republican rival John McCain with five days left in the race for the White House, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Thursday.

Obama leads McCain by 50 percent to 43 percent among likely voters in the three-day national tracking poll, building on his 5-point advantage on Wednesday. The telephone poll has a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points.

It was the second consecutive day Obama's lead has grown as the two-year presidential battle draws to a close. McCain is struggling to overtake Obama's lead in every national opinion poll and in many battleground states.

"This is not good news for McCain. The race was tightening for a few days but now it is going back the other way," pollster John Zogby said.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081030/pl_nm/us_usa_politi...

[orleans]

1. only 7? n/t

[Presidentcokedupfratboy]

2. We have to act as if we're seven points down

Time to put the pedal to the metal and bring it home. Take nothing for granted!

[shotten99]

3. Anyone else get the feeling that Zogby just pulls numbers

out of his ass and puts them out daily?

Hey, this might make for good news! 12%
Ok, this will sell more papers: 2%
Just kidding, it's 7%

I see John crying "wolf."

[TheEuclideanOne]

5. The only ones that I believe are the ones with really high numbers favoring Obama

The rest are obviously innaccurate.

In all seriousness, I have heard Zogby on a right wing talk show and I could envision the Koolaid in a cup in front of him during the interview. I really had to wonder how much of an influence he has on the polls.

[RBInMaine]

4. Work work work. Call, Canvass, Lit Drop, Donate...Don't let up. Work like your life depends on it !

This weekend I am AGAIN canvassing for Dems/Obama in my hometown. Let's get off our butts and on the streets and on the phones for Obama/Dems !

[tclambert]

6. One more time, 50 is nice, but 270 is the number that counts

The test we set for Presidential candidates is how well they play the electoral college game. You have to win 270 electoral votes to win. You can lose the popular vote and still win the electoral vote. Don't panic! John McCain is nowhere near pulling that off. Soon to be President Obama is playing the electoral game with great skill. RCP has 311 EVs solid or leaning for Obama, only 152 for McCain. If the election were today, they predict a 375 to 158 split. Obama has 259 solid. He only needs 11 from the leaning states and toss-up states. McCain needs multiple miracles. He has to win all the toss-ups, and swing at least 3 states that are leaning toward Obama.

While the national tracking polls have fluctuated around essentially unchanged for a month, the state level polls have shown slow but steady improvement for Obama. Nate Silver, the genius behind FiveThirtyEight.com, points out that state-level polling does several times as many interviews per day as the national trackers.

[high density]

7. Zogby should be embarrassed to be posting these numbers

His polls have a drunken swagger to them. One day the race is "tightening," the next day it is "going back the other way."