Oops, that was Penna, not national. Scrap that.

It's still +5 without leaners.

This is bad news.

He has a very narrow window of opportunity now in which to change things.

Unless he makes the right VP pick, we could be looking at this next year and saying that Kerry lost his race just after the convention and Obama lost his just before.

Three things need to be done:

- Announce his VP, and foreign policy team, and show off the generals who support him a few more times. Do some more FP speeches surrounded by military.

- Start hitting McCain on his reckless, hysterical reactions to crises. We can't afford a highly personalized, emotional foreign policy of confrontation with whoever John McCain just dislikes. He's a nutcase and dangerous for America.

- Neutralize or minimize McCain's "advantages" on war issues. (Turn it around and make it, McCain is itching for confrontation) And put the focus back on economics, a la 1992.

Obama may be younger and less experienced but he's not crazy. Draft dodger Bill Clinton beat the far more experienced GHWB. Mostly due to economic worries.

By the way, aren't some of these polls getting into pushpoll territory?

They always ask pointed questions based on GOP lines of attack. Is Obama ready to lead? Is he a muslim? Is America ready for a black president?

How about tossing in a few qs like: Does Mccain's serial adultery bother you? Can a hothead lead the country safely?

Remember, though, Bill (nobody is prepared to be president) Clinton in included in that 49% and he still might vote for Obama in November.

I wonder if a good percentage of that could be Hillary voters who are still stewing. Maybe they are saying they will vote for him, but he's not ready. Kind of their way of "going along with it but not happy about it."

Speaking of Hillary, she's been awfully quiet at a time when she should be loudly cheering for the nominee, all the while her brother is flirting with the opposition and she doesn't say word one about that or the shenanigans of the rest of her deluded camp.

Does she value her future in Democratic politics? Looks like the answer is no. Because if Obama loses, she's laying the groundwork to become the second most hated figure in the party after Obama himself.

Obama is never going to beat McCain on experience. For most voters, "experience" simply means, "years in politics/government". McCain has the added benefit of being a veteran. But this is a change election, as the polls continue to show, and McCain does not represent change. Plus, you can always knock down "experience" with "lack of judgement". The Obama camp is starting to do more of that with the "he's a hothead who shoots from the hip" attacks.

Any poll you get this week is going to reflect the vacation that Obama was on and the week that McCain had to himself. Just because another outfit came out with a poll does not change the fact that they are polling at the same time. McCain had a good week of polling, but this hysteria is out of control. If it is a trend then we can talk.

McCain is the known candidate, he is the war hero,that gives him a built in advantage. When clinton was the known candidate she was up 30 points.McCain has been down consistently 3-6 points. How is that a good thing that the known candidate is down and a bad thing that the unkown candidate is up. It is always the opposite. Bush senior was the known guy and he was up against Clinton until the convention. Please show me an election where the known candidate has been behind early and then come back to win.

I agree that this is a push poll. It's like asking which of the two candidates is more like previous presidents (i.e., which is white). Same as asking who is younger and thus subtly suggesting that the youth aspect should be frightening.

Also agree that Hillary hasn't done anything of note to help the ticket and that she is an egomaniacal disgrace.

One thing that bothers me in many of these polls is the whole, "would make a good commander-in-chief", question. (I know they asked separate "prepared to lead" and "commander-in-chief" questions but McCain beat Obama on both) You'll never, ever, see Obama win that one. Why? Because he didn't serve in the military. In our day and age, "commander-in-chief", has taken on a distinctly military definition. The founders, however, made the president "commander-in-chief" of the nation's armed forces in order to ensure CIVILIAN control of the military. Military leaders don't often make the right political decisions or the right decisions for the country. The president's ability to see things outside of a military point-of-view is the key to being a successful commander-in-chief. It's what the founders intended. McCain almost always sees foreign policy issues and crises as military problems first, which is why his response almost always involves some sort of military action or saber rattling. That's not a positive trait to have in a president...in fact, it's a negative.

It's funny to see the comments above of those pissed off that HRC is not insisting her supporters get behind Obama. I have 2 points in that regard.

1) This has become as much about the DNC and Obama himself as it is about Hillary. Even Hillary could not cause party unity at this point as much as she is admired.

2)Many of you are the same folks that a mere month or so ago were cursing out HRC and making it clear 'we don't need you old bitter women ANYWAY'. Probably not a smart move in retrospect huh?

Obama will lose this election. It is as simple as that and the people who Obama supporters took such pleasure in calling bitter, old, women living with their cats, etc... will be a huge reason for it.

People change their mind like the wind, and two months is a lifetime in campaigns, especially now considering the crazy amount of coverage each candidate gets.

The debates will be huge for Obama, he really needs to nail the National Security/Foreign Affairs debate.

It's really just hard to comprehend that some on this thread could relish the idea of an Obama loss when supposedly they were once Hillary supporters. Do you people realize that Hillary and Barack are twins on 99% of the issues? Don't you get that an Obama loss = a McCain win? Hillary is no longer an option. All we have is the Democrat and the Republican now. I know this is a reasonable argument and sure to be ignored, but I try anyway.

Please, explain how Obama losing helps this country. Or is it all about you?

You Hillary weirdos are so irresponsible and infantile. Here we have eight years of the worst president anybody can remember, an extremely right wing Supreme Court, and you want more of the same rather than letting the guy who won the nomination get formally nominated then elected. And as spite, so as to somehow vindicate the woman who lost the nomination through her manifest incompetence. And a bunch of you want to call yourselves Democrats, too. I can't believe you still come on here with this; what an embarassment you are.

Saturday Night Live said it best, Hillary's supporters are racist---period.

Hillary and Bill poisoned the well. McCain is just borrowing the potion they used to do it, concentrating the mixture but using their same stinking brew of distortions and fear-mongering.

And having a country filled with overt and covert racists isn't helping any either.

Wrong, Lalo. It has to do with a 'Hillary-as-Queen" mentality. You all define the word sycophant.

Every time I read a comment by one of you that seems like maybe, you're biting down and supporting the party's nominee, I subsequently read a comment attacking him.

Any Democrat who would just as soon see McCain win if it can't be Clinton is no better than Joe Lieberman. Clinton supporters who are STILL working against Barack are exclusively that, Clinton supporters - you are not Democrats.

I think people, including Greg and Eric, should actually read the poll. A plurality of respondents did NOT say that Obama is unprepared to be president. The question asked whether they thought Obama has "prepared himself enough" to be president. It's a very odd construction, but it is different than "is he prepared."

'The question asked whether they thought Obama has "prepared himself enough" to be president. It's a very odd construction, but it is different than "is he prepared."'

God that was a weird post! Seems like this rbowser is basing this, like, on the facts or something...bizarre...

Now I'm really curious who the hell they're polling.