OBAMA LEADS MCCAIN 49-44 IN LATEST GALLUP POLL

September 19, 2008

Gallup Daily: Obama Now Leads McCain by 5 PointsAt 49%, support for Obama is near his record high for the yearUSA Election 2008 Gallup Daily Americas Northern America PRINCETON, NJ -- Gallup Poll Daily tracking from Tuesday through Thursday finds Barack Obama with a five percentage point lead over John McCain in the presidential preferences of registered voters, 49% to 44%.



This is the fourth consecutive day that Obama has inched forward in voter preferences since the start of the Wall Street financial meltdown beginning with the announcement on Sunday, Sept. 14, that Lehman Brothers was headed for bankruptcy. The overall effect has been to shift the lead back to Obama after McCain had moved ahead following the Republican National Convention.

Obama's current 49% rating is close to his 50% record high reached just after the Democratic National Convention. (That came in Gallup Poll Daily tracking from Aug. 30-Sept. 1.) However, his current five-point advantage is still lower than his 9-point lead in late July (following his trip to Europe and the Middle East) and his 8-point leads right after the Democratic National Convention in late August.

McCain's 44% is about midway between his record high 49% reached right after the Republican National Convention in early September, and his all-time low for the year of 40% recorded in late July.

Obama enjoyed one of his widest advantages over McCain of recent weeks in Thursday night's interviewing. It will be important to see whether the stock market's reaction today to aggressive government intervention in the crisis has an impact on the direction of the presidential race over the next few days.

[link to www.gallup.com]