McCain Maintains Slight Lead in Daily Tracking Polls

Some of today's daily tracking polls are available. Sen. John McCain is holding on to his slight lead.

Gallup has McCain up 48 percent to 44 percent. This is a one-percentage-point drop from the past two days.

These results, based on Sept. 8-10 polling, show McCain continuing to ride his post-convention bounce. He has held a statistically significant lead over Obama in each of the last four three-day rolling averages.

In addition, since Sept. 5 -- the first night after the Republican National Convention -- he has outpolled Obama in each of the last six individual night's polling. That consistent pattern in the night-to-night data suggests that McCain has a stable lead for now.

This is McCain's best performance since late April and early May, when he was ahead of Obama in eight consecutive Gallup Poll Daily tracking reports, which included a campaign-best six percentage point lead. In March, shortly after he clinched the Republican Party's presidential nomination, McCain was ahead of Obama in 19 consecutive Gallup Poll Daily tracking reports.

The Rasmussen Reports sees a dead heat, with Obama and McCain pulling in 46 percent of the vote. When "leaners" are included, both candidates have 48 percent.

Data released last night shows John McCain up by two in New Mexico, up by double digits in North Dakota, and up by an overwhelming margin in his running mate’s home state of Alaska. The Palin surge in Alaska has even helped pull embattled Senator Ted Stevens back to a competitive position in his bid for re-election. Presidential polling has also been released this week for Colorado, Florida, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

Tonight, at 5:00 p.m. Eastern, new polling will be released for Michigan, Idaho, and Wyoming.

Real Clear Politics' average of polls has McCain up by 2.5 percentage points today.

McCain-Palin Team Finds Its Poll Bounce

There is growing evidence of a post-convention bounce in the national polls for the Republican presidential ticket of Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin. A number of recent polls show them with a lead over Democrats Sens. Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

Gallup Daily Tracking Poll today has McCain with a 5-percentage-point lead.

John McCain’s support among registered voters increased six percentage points from immediately before the GOP convention to immediately after. That convention bounce leaves him with a five-point lead over Barack Obama in the latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking update, 49% to 44%.

Rasmussen Reports Daily Tracking Poll today has McCain edging to a statistically insignificant one-point lead over Obama.

In the first national polling results based entirely on interviews conducted after the Republican National Convention, McCain attracts 47% of the vote while Obama earns 46%. When "leaners" are included, it’s McCain 48% and Obama 47%.

Last Tuesday, Obama’s bounce peaked with the Democrat enjoying a six-percentage point advantage. Before the two conventions were held, Obama had consistently held a one or two point lead over McCain for most of August.

Real Clear Politics' average of polls has McCain up by 3.2 percentage points.

In a poll released yesterday, self-described likely voters told CBS/Gallup that they favored McCain 54 percent to 44 percent.

Most pollsters attributed McCain's gains to a traditional post-convention bump in popularity, as well as Palin's performance in her speech at the convention, which was well received by social conservatives and evangelicals.

Zogby Poll Sees 4-Point Edge for McCain

Zogby International's latest poll has the McCain-Palin ticket with a four-percentage-point lead over the Obama-Biden ticket.

The McCain/Palin ticket wins 49.7 percent support, compared to 45.9 percent backing for the Obama/Biden ticket, this latest online survey shows. Another 4.4 percent either favored someone else or were unsure, Zogby reported.

Most other polls have a tighter race. Gallup, for instance, shows a two-percentage-point advantage for Obama on its daily tracking poll. There, he is leading 47 percent to 45 percent. It's a lead that has been shrinking since a post-DNC advantage of 50-to-42 percent.

RealClearPolitics has Obama with a 1.8-percentage-point lead, while both Rasmussen Reports and CBS have a dead heat.

There should be a wave of polls released tomorrow that will show the full effect of the Palin nomination on the race.