Zogby Poll: McCain gains the lead
Story Created:
Aug 20, 2008 at 2:55 PM EST
Story Updated:
Aug 20, 2008 at 9:34 PM EST
As the convention season approaches, a sharp turnaround in the race as a Zogby International Poll has John McCain taking the lead from Barack Obama in the U.S. Presidential race, and it's continuing to make the road to November a very interesting ride.
In the latest poll from Zogby International released Wednesday, it seems John McCain has gained a 5 point lead on Barack Obama, with 46% of U.S. Voters favoring McCain to the 41% now in favor of Obama.
And according to Zogby, this is the first time that McCain has cracked the 45% barrier, and at the same time, he says we're seeing a slow and steady decline of Obama's high of 48% moving down to the aforementioned 41%.
The poll was taken this past Thursday through Saturday just as Barack Obama finished up his week long vacation in Hawaii.
Now this gave John McCain the chance to hit the spotlight, as he took advantage of Russia's invasion of Georgia to stress his views on foreign policy.
And with that and the economy some of the top issues on voters minds, Obama is seeing a himself losing support among women, Catholics, and independents.
"With McCain, questions have always been 'will conservatives...enough of them...vote for him," John Zogby said. "Today it looks like he's doing a better job consolidating his conservatives than Obama is consolidating young people and liberals."
Some of the reasons Zogby attributes to Obama's loss of support is Obama's recent vacation so close to the convention, which he says turned off numerous groups, as well as several policy shifts for Obama, including his changing stance on offshore drilling from a stern "no" to a "yes" in a limited capacity.
It has many, Zogby says, seeing him as a "flip-flopper" when it comes to certain issues.
And with this poll coming just a short time before Obama announces his selection for vice-president - a selection which Zogby says would have implications for either candidate - it'll be very interesting to see where the numbers on both sides head in the weeks to come.
