After a strong day of polling for Republican presidential candidate John McCain on Friday, Democrat Barack Obama experienced a strong single day of polling on Saturday, retaining a 5.7-point advantage that is right at the edge of the margin of error of the Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby daily tracking poll. The race has remained remarkably stable down the stretch, this three-day rolling average poll shows.
Pollster John Zogby: "Obama has consolidated his lead over McCain. His single day lead today was back to 52 percent to 42 percent. He leads by 10 among independents and has solidified his base. He leads among Hispanics by38 points, African-Americans by 88, 18- to 24-year-olds by 36, 18- to 29-year-olds by 25, 25- to 34-year-olds by 16, women by 8, and men by 3. He has a 17-point lead among those who have already voted, 22 by those who have registered to vote in the past six months, moderates by 34, Catholics by 10. He even receives 21 percent support among conservatives.
"So what happened to give McCain a 1-point lead in the one-day polling on Friday? It was a day of consolidation for him, too. He had been losing support among key groups and began to regain some of his own base. He now leads by 21 points among NASCAR fans, 9 among investors, 6 among voters in armed forces households, and 2 among voters over 65 years old.
"Remember, as I said yesterday, one day does not make a trend. This is a three-day rolling average and no changes have been tectonic. A special note to blogger friends: calm it down. Lay off the cable television noise and look at your baseball cards in your spare time. It is better for your (and everyone else's) health."