PRINCETON, NJ -- Barack Obama continues to cut into Hillary Clinton's lead among national Democratic voters. Today's Gallup Poll Daily tracking figures, based on Jan. 26-28 polling, shows Clinton's advantage over Obama down to single digits: 43% vs. 34%. Clinton's lead has diminished by at least a point in each of the past five daily updates -- and is down from 17 percentage points in the Jan. 24 release (based on Jan. 20, 22, and 23 polling) and from 20 points in the Jan. 21 release (based on Jan. 18-20 polling). Obama received the endorsement of Democratic icon Sen. Ted Kennedy yesterday. The initial indication from last night's interviewing is that it did not have a dramatic effect on the race so far, but Obama's deficit has been less than 10 points in both Sunday and Monday interviewing.
Front-runner John McCain leads Romney by 12 points among national Republican voters, 31% to 19%, with the crucial Florida primary taking place today. Romney's positive momentum has apparently been halted for now, with the 2-point drop in his support from yesterday's release, and this is the first time he has shown any decline in nearly two weeks. Romney and McCain are locked in a tight battle in the winner-take-all Florida contest, which polls suggest is a toss-up between the two. Rudy Giuliani, who some speculate might drop out of the race if he finishes poorly in Florida, is currently supported by 13% of national Republicans. -- Jeff Jones
Methodology: Gallup is interviewing 1,000 U.S. adults nationwide each day during 2008. The results reported here are based on combined data from Jan. 26-28, 2008, including interviews with 1,030 Republican and Republican-leaning voters and 1,269 Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters. For results based on these samples, the maximum margin of sampling error is ±3 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.
