US Election Day: The politics of polls

Senators Barack Obama and John McCain will be stumping across the country even as voters queue up at polling stations on Election Day. After voting in the morning near his home in Chicago Sen Barack Obama will make another run at herding the solidly Republican state of Indiana into the Democratic camp.

After voting in the town of Phoenix Sen John McCain resumes campaigning in New Mexico and Colorado, two western states that voted for president George W Bush in 2004 but now appear to be tilting Sen Obama's way.

Straws in the wind
All pre-election polls released by yesterday show Sen Obama in the lead even as Sen McCain would appear to be closing the gap in some of them. 

A CBS News daily tracking poll showed McCain gaining 4 percentage points among likely voters, closing Senator Obama's lead to 9 points from 13. The latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News survey would have Obama leading 51-42 per cent, the same as two weeks ago.

A Washington Post/ABC News daily tracking poll has 53 per cent in favour of Obama to McCain's 44 per cent, the same as two weeks ago. Marist College's national survey has Obama ahead of McCain 52 per cent to 43 per cent.

The smallest margin of lead for Obama is awarded by an Investor's Business Daily/TIPP poll which shows Obama ahead by 5 percentage points.