Zogby Shock Poll--McCain Moves Ahead of Obama

Friday, October 31, 2008 may well be the day that Americans observed a major, last-minute shift in momentum during the waning days of Campaign '08.

Today at 1 PM ET, pollster John Zogby will release the results of Friday's daily tracking poll which shows that for the first time since the days just after the Republican National Convention, John McCain has moved into the lead in the race for the White House.

This poll will show a 48% to 47% lead for McCain.

But the big news behind the news is the momentum McCain seems to be picking up from independents, undecided voters, working class citizens, and younger voters, ages 25-45.

The numbers show these groups of voters breaking sharply in favor of McCain in the last few days of the campaign.

Pollster Says Don't Believe the Democrats' Hype

In an interview with the Boston Herald, pollster John Zogby says, 'Don't believe the Democrats' hype.'

Zogby maintains that the 2008 Presidential Election is still too close to call and that there are fluctuations in the polling numbers from day to day.

For example, only 2 days ago, in the midst of some terribly depressing financial news, the Zogby/Reuters/C-SPAN daily tracking poll showed McCain-Palin behind by only 2 percentage points.

Prior to the Palin-Biden debate, McCain was down by 9.

Yesterday, however, the very same poll showed Obama up by 4, meaning that in one 24-hour period Obama gained 2 percentage points.

Zogby claims that many Americans still have not made up their minds and that a significant portion of the voters who have decided say they could still change their minds before Election Day.

One Bright Spot in the Polls

In the midst of all of the terrible news in most of the polls concerning the Presidential race, there is one bright spot among those polls.

Zogby/Reuters/C-SPAN report that their latest joint tracking poll shows Obama ahead of McCain by only 2 percentage points, 47-45%.

In fact, the 3 entities are claiming that the race is 'too close to call.'

One key factor in the closeness of the race, according to Zogby, is Sarah Palin's performance in her debate with Joe Biden. After Palin's stellar performance, McCain's numbers have improved significantly even in spite of the the bad economic news.

Click on the link above and read this encouraging news.

SHOCKER! Only 3% Approve of Congress on the War

Zogby International released a new poll on August 1 which shows that public approval of Congress when it comes to handling the War in Iraq has dipped to a shocking low of 3%.

President Bush received a 24% approval rating on the War in the same poll.

Thus, the one issue that Democrats used to beat Republicans over the head in the 2006 elections has come back to haunt them. At no point during the War in Iraq was the Republican controlled Congress treated to such contempt.

This news is bound to strike fear in the hearts of the Democratic nominees for President, as well as Congressional and Senate Democrats. The Democrats were counting on the War to catapult them into the White House in 2008 and increase their slim majorities in the House and Senate.

Not so fast.

The public, according to the Zogby poll, has 21% more confidence in President Bush' handling of the War than in that of Congress.

And this is not the only bad news for the Democrats. The public overwhelmingly favors supporting our troops by keeping funding at current levels. 42% believe that Congress should continue to fully fund the War, 34% would attach requirements for gradual withdrawal to such funding, while a mere 18% support cutting all funding and bringing the troops home immediately.

The polling data comes on the heels of a series of op-eds in major newspapers last Sunday that quote vehement critics of the War as saying that there has been a distinct turn-around in the past month in Iraq and that the U.S. is certainly capable of winning outright.

These critics were considered close allies in the Democrats' fight to pull the troops out. Now that there has been a marked improvement in Iraq, many believe that the plug has just been pulled on the Democrats' 'slam-dunk' issue.

Thus, my friends, it is way too early to give up hope on the 2008 elections. Not only is there a better than 50-50 chance we will keep the White House, but our prospects for retaking control of Congress get better by the day.

Here is the full report on the Zogby poll:
http://zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1343

Zogby: Half of Americans Wary of Clinton Corruption

Washington, DC (TLS). A Zogby poll released this week shows that nearly half of Americans fear major corruption if the Clintons return to the White House.

In the first poll of its kind taken since Hillary hit the campaign trail, the Zogby organization reports that its poll finds that 45% of Americans are fearful of 'high levels of corruption' should Mrs. Clinton become the next President.

This startlingly high figure bodes ill for the Clinton campaign, as Americans have increasingly grown impatient with corruption in the Democrat-controlled Congress, as well as within the Bush administration.

The Democrats may have more to lose, however. Approval ratings for Congress are far below that of President Bush.

Read the details here:
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPolitics.asp?Page=/Politics/archive/200704/POL20070405c.html