Gallup Daily: Obama 49%, Clinton 44%

PRINCETON, NJ -- According to the Gallup Poll Daily tracking three-day rolling average for May 7-9, Barack Obama has widened the gap over Hillary Clinton to a 49% to 44% margin.

These results are the first three-day aggregate in which all interviews have been conducted after last Tuesday's North Carolina and Indiana primaries. Although Obama's margin over Clinton is now larger than it has been over the last several days, he has yet to move into a significant or commanding lead, despite much discussion about the inevitability of his becoming the Democratic nominee. (To view the complete trend since Jan. 3, 2008, click here.)

Hillary Clinton is maintaining a 48% to 44% lead over John McCain in the current tracking of general election preferences, slightly larger than Barack Obama's 46% to 45% slim, one percentage point margin over McCain. -- Frank Newport

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Survey Methods

For the Gallup Poll Daily tracking survey, Gallup is interviewing no fewer than 1,000 U.S. adults nationwide each day during 2008.

The Democratic nomination results are based on combined data from May 7-9, 2008. For results based on this sample of 1,270 Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters, the maximum margin of sampling error is ±3 percentage points.

The general election results are based on combined data from May 5-9, 2008. For results based on this sample of 4,359 registered voters, the maximum margin of sampling error is ±2 percentage points.

In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

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