As Barack Obama prepares to accept his party’s nomination next week, his lead in the polls has vanished.
A new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll shows Obama in a statistical dead heat with Sen. John McCain. Some 45 percent of people polled favored Obama, while 42 percent want McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, to be the next president. One month ago, the poll showed Obama holding a six-point lead. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
Earlier today, a Reuters/Zogby poll put McCain ahead by 46 percent to 41 percent. It was McCain’s first lead in that monthly poll.
The Journal/NBC poll shows that Obama, preparing for the Democratic National Convention in Denver, is having a tough time rallying Hillary Clinton supporters. Just half of those who voted for Clinton in the primaries support Obama, while one in five backs McCain.
McCain’s attack ads also have helped. He has repeatedly questioned whether Obama is ready to lead the country.
Russia’s move into Georgia, meantime, has played into McCain’s foreign-policy strengths.