US presidential candidate John McCain now leads slightly in the polls

September 9, 2008 United States presidential candidate John McCain now retains a lead over Barack Obama in several polls conducted in the past few days. Both Zogby International and Rasmussen Reports have McCain with a slight, but not statistically significant lead. The most recent Gallup tracking poll has McCain with a statistical lead of 5.0 percent. The Day to Day Politics Poll Average also has a slight, but not statistically significantly lead of 0.4% for McCain.

Obama had a 6.0 percent lead in the Day to Day Politics Poll Average after the Democratic National Convention, but now is trailing after the Republican National Convention and the announcement of Sarah Palin as McCain's running mate. This is the first time McCain has led Obama in the poll average since the two candidates emerged as their party's presumptive nominees after the primaries.

After McCain chose Palin, the current Governor of Alaska, as his vice presidential candidate and the Republican National Convention, a Gallup poll had shown that the percentage of Republicans who are enthusiastic about voting has increased by 18%. The Democrats enthusiasm has only increased by 10% since the addition of Joe Biden to the nomination ticket and after the Democratic National Convention.

The Day to Day Politics Poll Average for the past week used the Gallup Tracking poll, the Rasmussen Tracking poll, the CNN poll, USA Today/Gallup, Hotline/FD, the CBS News and the Zogby poll.