Obama passes Clinton in first national polls, but read them with caution

Get ready for a never-ending series of Superbowl metaphors over the next 48 hours, whether playing on come backs or on the underdog victory. Quinnipiac already threw one in in its poll release this morning: "Illinois Sen. Barack Obama could make it a fourth quarter surprise for Sen. Hillary Clinton..." Not that the analogy really works with yesterday's game since the Giants went in the fourth quarter with a lead. And with that, two new national polls released this morning have Obama passing Clinton for the first time nationally, an undoubtedly significant measure 24 hours from what has become a quasi-national primary.

• CNN/Opinon Research shows Obama ahead of Clinton 49% to 46%, a lead well within the margin of error but 49% is by far the highest Obama has ever gotten in a national poll.
• Among Republicans, McCain is hardly looking back, ahead 44% to 29% for Romney and 18% for Huckabee.


• A Cook Political Reports's survey shows Obama ahead 43% to 37%. McCain is ahead by 15% here again, 39% to 24% with Huckabee at 18%.

A note of caution is required about these national polls, as perfectly summarized by Pollster.com's Mark Blumenthal. What these polls are measuring is not the vote of those who will go the polls on Tuesday, but the preference of Democrats nationwide. Now, not only will "only" 22 states vote on Tuesday, but many of them (like Colorado and Minnesota) will hold low turnout caucuses, making the national polls even more irrevelevant. Furthermore, yesterday's CBS poll shows that, while Obama and Clinton are tied at 41% nationally, Clinton leads 49% to 31% in February 5th states. That subsample has a large margin of error, but keep the possibility of such a discrepancy in mind.

That said, these national polls are useful to measure trendlines, and they are unmistakably a significant Obama momentum that is showing no sign of subsiding and that is threatening to overtake Clinton across the board. More than a traditional primary, this race is starting to look like the state of senatorial elections a week before Election Day, as a small uptick for one party tends to throw almost all the toss-up Senate races in one party's lap (that was true in 00, 02, 04 and 06). If CNN and Cook's numbers hold, we will be in for a big Obama night; but many pollsters are not being that optimistic just yet (starting with Mason-Dixon or even CBS's February 5th numbers) and a minuscule uptick by Clinton could allow her to sweep the Super Tuesday states. And given how dire her situation is said to be now, even the minimal survival scenario for her could come to be described as a victory (just as New Hampshire).

And with that let's turn to some state polls which are obviously the best indicator of where things are heading Tuesday, starting with a new Suffolk poll of Massachusetts:

• Suffolk shows Romney comfortably ahead in his home state, 50% to 37%. But remember that Massachusetts is not winner-take-all, and is one of the only states in the GOP side that awards its delegates proportionally. Margin will matter here.
• Among Democrats, it's a toss-up with Obama up 46% to 44%. That is a massive improvement for Obama who was trailing in this state as of 10 days ago, and it can obviously be attributed to Kennedy's endorsement.

We have had very few Massachusetts polls so it is hard to know exactly what the dynamic is here. The previous two polls had Clinton up by widely differing margins.

Next, we have the very important state of Georgia, which is one of the essential states Romney has to do well in:

• Strategic Vision shows Romney is trailing McCain by 2%, 31% to 29%, with Huckabee at 26%. Those two points mean the difference between no statewide delegates and 33 of them.
• Among Democrats, Obama confirms that Georgia is his strongest state with Illinois, and leads 49% to 27%.

And that leads us to the Tri-State area and three new polls that show some tight races:

• Clinton cannot afford to lose New Jersey, and a Zogby poll this morning had her tied at 43%. Now, Quinnipiac has her leading 48% to 43%. The Clinton camp should be reassured that they still have a lead, but consider how much Obama has caught up in less than two weeks, as the January 23rd poll had him down 49% to 32%.
• Among Republicans, Quinnipiac shows McCain poised to take all of the state's delegates, and leading 52% to 30% against Romney.


• Strategic Vision's New Jersey poll has McCain up by an even more massive 55% to 25% and it also shows Clinton holding on to a thin lead, 47% to 41%.


• And that leaves us with New York, where the Quinnipiac survey shows Clinton ahead 53% to 39%, whlie McCain is up 54% to 22%! More than any other decline, it is her inability to open up a big margin in her home state that will cost Clinton a significant number of delegates that she cannot afford to lose at this point.

One last note on bizarre external factor that could affect the Democratic race: Two Alabama counties voted last Wednesday because Election Day is Fat Tuesday. Their votes are sealed until tomorrow night. But this is one state where the clock was not ticking in Obama's favor. John Edwards only dropped out on Wednesday, and Alabama was one of the only state in which his departure clearly helped Clinton, since Edwards got nothing among the black vote and a significant portion of the white vote; and the vote in these counties before Edwards's withdrawal was announced on the ballot in these counties could potentially cost Hillary a few crucial votes if the contest is close.