Gallup Daily: Obama Stretches Lead to 8 Points Lead one of largest in campaign

PRINCETON, NJ -- The latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking finds Barack Obama moving to an eight percentage point lead over John McCain, 49% to 41%.

Obama's significant lead over McCain almost certainly reflects the effects of the Democratic National Convention. The two presidential candidates were tied at 45% in the last Gallup Poll Daily tracking results conducted entirely before the convention began. The latest results include interviews from Tuesday through Thursday night, though most of the interviewing was conducted before Obama's acceptance speech late Thursday.

Gallup has measured the convention bounce for candidates in previous years by comparing the last poll conducted entirely before the convention began with the first poll conducted entirely after the convention concludes. That historical calculation is complicated this year by the intense media focus on McCain's selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate on Friday, and the increasing focus on next week's Republican National Convention.

Obama has clearly seen a rise in the polls since the convention began with a 4-point increase in his support (from 45% to 49%) with the margin moving eight points in his favor. Obama's largest advantage at any point in the campaign was a 9-point lead recorded July 24-26, so as his party's convention concludes, he is about as strongly positioned as he has been at any point this year. (To view the complete trend since March 7, 2008, click here.) -- Jeff Jones

Click here to see how the race currently breaks down by demographic subgroup.

Survey Methods

For the Gallup Poll Daily tracking survey, Gallup is interviewing no fewer than 1,000 U.S. adults nationwide each day during 2008.

The general-election results are based on combined data from Aug. 26-28, 2008. For results based on this sample of 2,727 registered voters, the maximum margin of sampling error is ±2 percentage points.

Interviews are conducted with respondents on land-line telephones (for respondents with a land-line telephone) and cellular phones (for respondents who are cell-phone only).

In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

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