Barack Obama has hit 52% in the latest Rasmussen's daily tracking poll!!
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows Barack Obama attracting 52% of the vote while John McCain earns 44%. This is the highest level of support ever recorded for Obama and is his largest lead of the year. It also continues a remarkable twenty-five days in a row where the Democrat’s support has never declined by even a single point. The Democratic candidate has gained six full percentage points of support since Lehman Brothers collapsed to start the Wall Street mess (see trends).
Wow.
It is worth noting that Obama’s lead is now bigger than any lead enjoyed at any point by either candidate in Election 2004.
Here are the electoral breakdowns:
The Rasmussen Reports Balance of Power Calculator shows Obama leading in states with 217 Electoral College votes while McCain has the edge in states with 174 votes. When "leaners" are included, Obama leads 264-185 (see Quick Campaign Overview). There are currently six states in the Toss-Up category—Colorado, Florida, North Carolina, Nevada, Ohio, and Virginia. If Obama were to win all the states that are currently leaning in his direction, he would need to win only one of those six toss-up states to become the nation’s next President.
Remember, people. This is Rasmussen we're talking about.
Ras explains why this is happening:
One way of understanding the difficult challenge now facing McCain is to consider the relatively small group of persuadable voters who could still change their mind. The Republican hopeful would have to win more than 70% of those votes to pull ahead in the race. That’s especially challenging because most of those voters are currently leaning towards Obama. In other words, while the race is not over, McCain needs a significant--game-changing—event to win the White House. Simply doing what he’s been doing a little better will not be enough.
So, McCain's new(est) attack mode strategy won't work based upon Ras' opinion. The old rehashed bullshit attacks are meaningless.
They continue:
There’s no mystery as to why the race has moved in Obama’s direction--it’s the economy. Just before Lehman Brothers collapsed and made visible Wall Street’s problems, 24% of voters said the nation was heading in the right direction. Since then, even that relatively low number has fallen sharply and today just 11% of voters now say that the United States is heading in the right direction. Eighty-six percent (86%) disagree and say the nation has gotten off on the wrong track.
At the same time that the number who say the nation is heading in the right direction has fallen, Obama’s support has steadily increased. In fact, his level of support has not fallen by even a single point on a single day for any of the twenty-five days dating back to September 12. He was supported by 46% of voters on September 12 and 13 before inching up to 47% for four days. Then, he was at 48% for six days and 49% for two days. Obama hit the 50% mark on September 26 and stayed there for four days before earning 51% support for six straight days and then hitting the 52% level today.
Now, Obama is releasing a 13 minute 'documentary' on McCain's Keating Five scandal?
They've been prepared for going after McCain -- in the event he started slinging mud -- for a long time it would seem. When Barack Obama said he wasn't going to be swiftboated, he meant it. From KeatingEconomics.com:
h/t MBNYC:
RCP, no friend to Progressives, has the EC at Obama 353, McLoser 185.
A holy shit update:
-The dow jones is about to go under 10,000 (now at 10.064 just before 10 am EST)-.
The Dow Jones is now below 10,000 (9969 at 10:15 am EST)
No joke.
Another UPDATE. This is Howard Wolfson from this morning:
Perpetually fretting Democrats will not want to accept it. The campaigns themselves can't afford to believe it. Many journalists know it but can't say it. And there will certainly be some twists and turns along the way. But take it to a well capitalized bank: Bill Ayers isn't going to save John McCain. The race is over.