New Gallup Poll: John McCain Leading Barack Obama Among Likely Voters
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
July 29, 2008
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Despite the surge pro-abortion presidential candidate Barack Obama received with his international trip, a new Gallup poll has some good news for John McCain. For the first time, it shows him leading among voters who say they are most likely to go to the polls on Election Day.
The USA Today/Gallup poll shows Obama leading McCain 47%-44% among registered voters, down from a 6-percentage point lead he had last month.
However, when the sample is reduced to only those likely to vote, McCain jumps to a 49%-45% lead. That reverses a five point lead Obama had among likely voters in the last Gallup survey.
The survey, taken July 25-28, "showed a surge since last month in likely Republican voters and suggested Obama’s trip may have helped energize voters who favor McCain," Gallup chief Frank Newport noted in his comments accompanying the release of the survey results.
"Registered voters are much more important at the moment," he said, but added that McCain’s lead among likely voters suggests "the possibility’s there that Republicans can get energized."
The poll also found the number of Americans who view McCain favorably shot up three points while the number who said the same of Obama went down.
The July poll finds 62 percent see McCain favorably and just 33 percent see him unfavorably, compared to a 59-35 percent split last month. Obama went down from a 64-35 percent favorable split in June to a 61-35 percent split now.
Some 76 percent of voters in the poll feel McCain can handle the job of being president compared to just 52 percent who say the same of Obama.
Respondents also said the media has been more unfair to McCain in its coverage with 32 percent saying the coverage is unfairly negative and only 15 percent saying the same about the mainstream media’s coverage of Obama.
McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds responded to the poll and told USA Today, "Despite Barack Obama’s international stardom, polls show that we’re in a dead heat and that hardworking Americans have real concerns with Obama’s inexperience and questionable judgment."
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