CBS Poll has a 7 % disparity on the amount of Dems in their poll with Obama up 8 and the one tied.

[MadBadger]

So that could be part of the reason why the two polls are so different. The newest poll has Republicans making up 31 percent of voters and dems making up 34% while in the previous poll, dems are 41% and Republicans are 31%.

[Drunken Irishman]

1. I can see why they did it.

Just to safeguard against the possibility of a McCain bounce. Generally there are bounces. I expect Obama to be leading this time next week.

[bluestateguy]

2. They are using 2004 party ID numbers

Republicans will themselves admit that Democrats have a larger party ID advantage now compared to 2004. In 2000 and 2004 the party ID balance of power was almost exactly even between the two parties.

[Awsi Dooger]

3. The question shouldn't be Democrat or Republican in Party ID

Polls should ask if the voter self-identifies as liberal, conservative or moderate. That number is more representative of the sampling, and doesn't vary in terms of how it's defined state to state. That's completely opposite of Party ID which means one thing in Oklahoma, for example, and drastically different somewhere else. It would be simple to adjust polls if we knew the liberal/conservative percentages and not merely Party ID garbage.