How about this day in polling!?!? The meter reaches 9, its highest ever, as Obama looks better and better in his quest for reelection.
There weren't many national polls today, mostly because a few of the tracking polls weren't published due to Hurricane Sandy. But what we did get was very encouraging. Rasmussen stayed the same at 49-47 Romney. But the ABC/WaPo tracker went back into a tie. The best national poll was from the National Journal, which showed Obama racing out to a 50-45 lead, the best national poll I've seen for him since the 1st debate. Take these national polls together, and Obama is now tied with Romney in the RCP average (which still includes Gallup's wacky, and now stale, 5 point Romney lead).
It's the state polls, though, that really pumped me up. Obama is winning all of the Kerry 2004 states, despite what the Romney campaign is telling you. Romney's blustering about Michigan looks unfounded, as an EPIC-MRA poll there this afternoon shows Obama up 6. The only Kerry 2004 state that is close is Wisconsin. But two polls there today showed Obama leading by 8 (in the very reliable Marquette poll) and 5 (PPP). Given Obama's clear leads in New Mexico and Nevada, he just needs to grab Ohio to win the White House. Well, Ohio gave us nothing but good numbers today. Two polls (CBS and PPP) showed Obama ahead by 5. Another (Cincinatti Paper) showed Obama up by 2. The 5 point leads are from pollsters that generalliy have had Democratic house effects this year, but even so, Obama's lead in Ohio is still solid and crystal clear.
Obama also had a very strong polling day in states he does not necessarily need to win. Three Florida polls showed a very close race, if not a tiny Romney lead. Obama also has a 2 point lead in Virginia, according to CBS. This lead was submerged in the RCP average by a stale poll from the unreliable Roanoke College Poll, showing Mittens up 5. But if I had to guess, I'd say Virginia is about tied. A PPP poll also showed Obama continuing to be tied with Romney in North Carolina, which would just be icing on the cake.
As if these great numbers weren't enough, I have an inkling that Obama's national fortunes are going to continue to improve. The ABC/WaPo tracking poll indicated that 78% of people approve of the President's handling of Hurricane Sandy, which is remarkable given the polarization of the election season. It certainly didn't help Romney that Obama was parading around with a supportive Chris Christie, the Republican keynote speaker. Also, pollsters like Rasmussen, when they start to see national numbers shift, might mysteriously get in line so that they can claim to be "2012's most accurate pollster."
I almost gave today a 10, but thought that the national numbers were not dramatically better than yesterday. That may change tomorrow. For now, a 9 is pretty darn good for 6 days out.