I never dismiss a poll out of hand. I think every poll has something to tell us. The results of the Des Moines Register poll have been widely noted here and throughout the blogosphere. Obama has a seven point lead:
Obama 32
Clinton 25
Edwards 24
This poll, the Register reports, has a +/-3.5% margin of error; it was conducted December 27 to 30. The model, according the The Washington Post, assumes that more than half of Hillary's and Edwards's support will be from first time caucus goers and that 72% of Obama's will come from that group.
Another few hours, and two more polls arrive this morning. CNN suggests that the race looks this way:
Clinton 33
Obama 31
Edwards 22
This is a telephone conducted on December 26 to December 30. There were 482 likely Democratic caucus-goers interviewed for the survey. It had a +/-4.5 margin error, suggesting a stalemate between Hillary and Obama.
The Reuters/Zogby tracking poll is out this morning, too:
Clinton 30
Obama 26
Edwards 25
According to Reuters:
The poll of 925 likely Democratic caucus-goers . . . was taken Friday through Monday and has a margin of error of 3.3 percentage points for each party.
So we wait till Thursday.