In final Super Tuesday polls, California is all over the place

After SUSA's massive wave of polls comforted Clinton supporters earlier today, we knew that the next batch of surveys could only bring some good news to Obama supporters. And Zogby's third and last day of tracking polls confirms that pollsters are very divided in what to expect in the Democratic race. Their Republican results are much more consistent, suggesting that the Democratic primary is still very fluid with many people still making up their mind.

And with that let's review the latest numbers from Zogby, and first off California where two polls show widely different numbers.

• Zogby shows Obama has stormed to a stunning 13% lead, 49% to 36%. Just yesterday, Obama was up 46% to 40%, so he had some very good single nights Sunday and Monday. Zogby explains that he progressed among Hispanic voters and women, two key Clinton constituencies.
• Among Republicans, Romney remains stable, leading 40% to 33% for McCain with Huckabee at 12%.


• That California's polls are all over the place is confirmed by SUSA's second California poll of the day. They supplemented the poll they had this afternoon with numbers from Monday night and found Clinton up 52% to 42%. Clinton's advantage among Latinos is a large 67% to 31%. The key to Clinton's good numbers here lies in the fact that more than a third of the electorate have already voted, and they indicate having chosen Clinton by 17%. Obama will need to have a big day tomorrow to offset that.
• SUSA shows Romney facing the same problem: SUSA explains that conservatives are now racing to vote Romney (who has tripled his support among conservatives in three weeks) but Romney will have to offset his disadvantage among early voters who are locked in for McCain by 6%. Overall, Romney has pulled into a tie, 39% to 38%. In the poll released this afternoon, Romney was down 39-36.

The second state from which we have more than one poll is New Jersey:

• First, Zogby has Clinton rising to a slight lead, 46% to 41%, after being stuck in a tie at 43% last night.
• Rasmussen finds a similar margin in New Jersey, showing Clinton coming in 49% to 43%. Rasmussen's poll is still an improvement for Obama who trailed 49% to 37% a few days ago, suggesting that undecideds are breaking his way.

Zogby's other polls are less surprising and less unexpected, albeit the Missouri numbers are interesting:

• The Missouri Dem race is in a toss-up, with Obama up 45% to 42%, a slight downturn from yesterday's 5% lead.
• The Republican Race is perhaps the GOP contest to watch tomorrow given that McCain getting those 58 delegates could be too much for Romney to survive, still looks to be leaning McCain though his lead against Romney has decreased by 5% in two days. Right now, McCain gets 34% to Huckabee's 27% and Romney's 25%.


• And in polls from unsuspensful races, Zogby has McCain up 53% to 24% in New Jersey; 56% to 20% in New York (it is worth noting that's a 10% improvement for McCain in 2 days). Obama is leading by 20% in Georgia, 49% to 29%. Clinton has to improve her situation a bit to prevent Obama from getting too large a delegate lead out of the state.

On the Republican side, a McCain victory in California, Missouri or Georgia would go a long way towards coronating the Arizona Senator. But the situation will not be clear at all among Democrats. As I will attempt to analyze in more depth in the coming hours, a breakdown of the delegate fight shows that, whatever happens tomorrow, neither Clinton nor Obama will come out with that much more than a 100 delegate lead. And if neither makes such a symbolic coup by winning on the other's turf or sweeping most states, the delegate count could be so close that the race would increasingly look like it might last until August...

Poll roller coaster continues, with SUSA showing Clinton holding firm with 12 hours to go

Whatever the results tomorrow, there will be a group of pollsters that will come out the clear losers of the run-up to Super Tuesday. On the one side we have groups like Zogby and Rasmussen which show Obama with higher-than-average results, on the other are Mason-Dixon, ARG and SUSA which are much much more reassuring to Clinton's chances. Depending on which institute has released the latest wave of polls, Clinton and Obama supporters are trading optimism for depression and vice-versa.

What can these discrepancies be attributed to? It is important to note that each institute is consistent in showing an Obama uptick or a Clinton uptick: Zogby has great Obama results in California but also in Missouri and New Jersey; and Mason-Dixon and SUSA have Clinton up higher than expected in most of their polls as well. This suggests that pollsters are using widely differing turnout models -- not only with the composition of the electorate but how many new voters show up and who these new voters are. Don't necessarily assume that new voters favor one candidate or the other, as both Iowa and New Hampshire Democrats voted in record numbers... to differing results. At this point there is no way of knowing which pollster we should trust, and we will have to wait for the results to come in tomorrow.

Meanwhile, here are the latest trends, mostly based on SUSA's massive release of polls. First up, of course, is the big prize of California, the state for which we could stay up very late tomorrow night:

• SUSA has Clinton up 53% to 41% in a week-end poll, which is a slight improvement for the NY Senator who led 49% to 38% last week. The key finding of the poll is that 34% of voters have already voted, and Clinton leads by 12% among those as well. The second crucial internal from the poll is that Latinos (27% of the electorate here) are giving 71% of their vote to Clinton.
• The Republican numbers are in line with other numbers and have a toss-up between McCain at 39% and Romney at 36%. A week ago, McCain had 36% and Romney had 25%, so this is a significant progression for Romney. Among those who have already voted (35%), Romney is down 5%.

I have long emphasized that early-voting was a big hurdle that Obama and Romney would have to overcome. And while there is no question that many of the people who voted Clinton early would have voted Hillary anyway, there is little doubt that some voters who are now locked in could have been susceptible to this late Obama momentum.

Next, we get three polls from Clinton and Obama's home states:

• In New York, SUSA shows Clinton staying ahead 56% to 38%, a bigger margin than in some other polls we have seen. Clinton really needs to get a massive delegate lead here to offset possible losses elsewhere. Worth noting is that Obama wins the male vote, in what is a 44% gender gap!
• In PPP's survey, Clinton has a similar lead, 51% to 32%.
• The GOP numbers have McCain up 56% to 23% in SUSA and 49% to 24% in PPP.


• In Illinois, it's Obama that is widely ahead in the SUSA poll 66% to 30%. Clinton only gets 17% of the white vote.
• Among Republicans, McCain does not tremble, 46% to 25% for Romney and 17% for Huck.

The Democratic numbers in these states are actually very important, as Illinois and New York will attribute a large numbers of delegates and both candidates want to get a lead in their home states to offset potential losses elsewhere. In New York, Clinton has a robust lead in all regions of the state, but Obama is also coming in consistently above 30% which should allow him to split delegates equally in all districts that allocate an even number of delegates! Clinton's Illinois position is a bit more precarious, as she is weak enough overall that she could let Obama get two extra delegates in even districts. And don't be surprised if Clinton gets shut out in some districts of Chicago.

Completing the Northeast picture, SUSA releases final numbers from New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts. Polls from all three have shown tight races in the past week but SUSA partly disagrees:

• In New Jersey, SUSA gives Clinton a reassuring 52% to 41% lead, in line with another poll released this morning that showed Clinton holding firm in the Garden State. The gender gap is 42%.
• In Massachusetts, SUSA has Clinton surviving 56% to 39% thanks to a 62% gender gap!! SUSA does show a 7% Obama progression in a week.
• In Connecticut, however, it's Obama, 48% to 46% (he led 48% to 44% a few days ago) in a race with a small gender gap, small age gap and small geographical differences.
  


• All those states show no suspense in the GOP race, and only MA is not winner-take-all and so the margin has to be watched. In NJ, it's McCain 54-25; in Connecticut, 52-30. And in Massachusetts, Romney is up 58-30.

In many ways, Clinton would rather lose Massachusetts than Connecticut. Losing the former could be attributed to Kennedy's influence, while Connecticut is in Clinton's own backyard. And with that we move to Missouri, a swing state in both parties in which SUSA once again is kind to the New York Senator:

• Clinton is up 54% to 43%, a noticeable progression since SUSA's poll released earlier this week in what SUSA calls "Last Minute Momentum to Clinton." It had been a while Hillary's camp hadn't read those words.
• The GOP 's Missouri primary might be the single most important contest in the Republican race, as the winner will get all of the state's 58 delegates. And as in many other polls, SUSA has it too close to call, with McCain at 33%, Huckabee 31% and Romney 28%.

Both Obama and Romney really want to win this state. A Clinton victory here would allow her to show she has appeal in the Midwest and that she can attract voters in a purple state that has been leaning red. And a McCain win would virtually leave Romney no path towards keeping the delegate count close.

And with that we move South, to Georgia and Alabama which are holding very tight contests as well. In Alabama, it is the Democratic race which is key now that Edwards's withdrawal has opened up a path for Clinton to win if the electorate in the South stays as racially polarized as in SC. We got three polls from AL:

• SUSA shows Obama up 49% to 47%, CPR has Clinton up 48% to 44% and Insider Advantage shows a toss-up, with Obama at 45% and Clinton at 44%.
• Among Republicans, AL has long been a McCain-Huckabee contest. SUSA has McCain stumbling a bit in the past few days and now up 37% to 35%, CPR has it at 36-30.


• In Georgia, PPP confirms Obama's lead 53% to 37%, but it is the GOP race that is more important in this state. PPP pits it at 31-29-27 (McCain-Romney-Huckabee), with Insider Advantage at 32 McCain-31 Romney-26 Huckabee.


• The latest updates from Tennessee and Oklahoma (PPP and SUSA) respectively confirm that Clinton has a wide lead there (56-34 and 54-27) but the GOP race is closer (34-28 for McCain-Huck in TN and 37-32 between them in Oklahoma).

As always, these numbers tell us first and foremost that the delegate count will probably stay close in the Dem race. And odds are that, if one candidate emerges with a significant delegate lead, it will be because of the margins in New York and Illinois rather than because of who won Missouri, California and Connecticut by a point of two.

• General election poll
  

A quick note about RAsmussen's latest general election numbers which are as over the place as the primary polls: McCain leads Clinton 47% to 39% but ties Obama at 44%. But the electability is reversed in Romney's matchups, as Clinton crushes him 50% to 37% and Obama is much closer, 44% to 41%. Rasmussen had only released Clinton-McCain and Romney-Obama yesterday and the rest today, so it appears that those two match-ups were tested in one sample, and that Clinton-Romney and McCain-Obama were tested in another. Simple sample differences would then explain why the first two are much more favorable to Democrats than the last two. I don't know, however, why such a sample split would be a good idea.

Polling tide shifts once more to Obama, as Zogby's trackings show him with expanding leads

As the Republican race is getting slightly more exciting in the run-up to Super Tuesday, I will keep the Democratic and Republican numbers separate in analyzing a large number of new polls.

Democrats: With the release of a worrisome new wave of tracking polls, the tide in good poll news has switched back from Clinton to Obama, with Zogby going as far as suggest as Obama could have a "big night" if this momentum holds up (the Zogby polls were taken Friday to Sunday, making them the most up-to-date, though barely so). But it is worth noting that Mason-Dixon's numbers that were a bit more skeptical of a Clinton decline are supported by other surveys.

First, as always, comes California:

• Zogby shows Obama expanding his lead, now ahead 46% to 40% against Clinton. He was up 45% to 41% yesterday. And get this, Zogby says that Obama is leading Clinton 49% to 32% on Sunday polling alone (though these small samples have a huge margin of error and often show big fluctuations); but it is undeniable that Obama's surge is being felt.

• Obama's surge in California -- also underscored by Rasmussen poll hours this afternoon that showed him edging Clinton by a point -- is confirming by a Suffolk poll that has Obama up 40% to 39%.

• But an ARG survey has Clinton up 47% to 39%. The ARG poll has Clinton ahead 51% to 34% among registered Democrats but trailing 63% to 27% among independents (who only make up 14% of voters in this model).

It is very hard to get a sense of where California is heading, especially when you keep in mind that Obama actually needs to get his voters to the poll whereas Clinton can in all likelihood depend in some sort of lead among early-voters. Remember also that a California victory is mostly meant for spin, and that the real fight will be waged at the district level where Obama could do well by cleaning out the numerous Republican districts that have fewer Democratic voters.

Next comes the all important states of Missouri and New Jersey:

• Zogby has New Jersey staying in a tie, at 43%, the first survey that has ever shown Clinton not winning in the Garden State. Here again, remember that Zogby is being more optimistic for Obama than other recent polls, whether Mason Dixon or Mormouth University.

• In Missouri, Obama surges ahead. He was down 1% yesterday, today he is ahead 47% to 42%, underscoring the extent of Obama's last-minute rise.

We end with the South, in Georgia and Tennessee:

• In Georgia, Zogby shows Obama crushing Clinton 48% to 31%, which is actually a slight improvement for Clinton.
• Insider Advantage also polled Georgia and found Obama ahead 51% to 36%.


• In Tennessee, Insider Advantage has Clinton ahead 55% to 35%, a double-digit improvement by Obama in the matter of a few days but he still remains far.

Clinton cannot afford to lose New Jersey, and Missouri should rather be classified as a must-win state for Obama, albeit one in which he trailed for a long time so his surge here is impressive. Meanwhile, Georgia and Tennessee are among the least suspenseful of Super Tuesday, as there is polling consensus about their splitting between Hillary and Barack.

Republicans: Romney's come back is still as improbable, but there are some signs that are pointing to its possibility. First in California, where two new polls have Romney in the lead:

• Zogby has Romney expanding his California poll, now up 50% to 42% (it was 47-44 yesterday). Romney winning by a substantial margin could mean that he also gets most districts, ensuring he gets a lot more delegates than expected out of Super Tuesday.
• The ARG poll has Romney edging out McCain 33% to 32%, with Huckabee at 16%.

Essential to Romney's chances is McCain losing Missouri and its winner-take-all 58 delegates. At worse, Romney has to hope that Huckabee can topple McCain here to prevent the Arizona Senator from amassing too many delegates. The latest Zogby poll has McCain up with 35% to 27% for Huckabee and 24% for Romney. Other polls have the race closer.

Zogby also polled the unsuspenseful New York race (53% to 19% McCain) and New Jersey (52% to 26% McCain). Both being winner-take-all, even the proportions the candidates receive do not matter, and we can go straight to the fascinating Southern polls of Insider Advantage.

• Georgia will be one of the three keys to the GOP contest on Tuesday, along with MO and CA, and Insider Advantage shows a complete toss-up: 30% Romney, 29% McCain, 28% Huckabee. Even a win by one vote gets whoever gets on top 33 statewide winner-take-all delegates. In a poll released on the 31st, it was 35% McCain and 24% each for Huckabee and Romney.


• In Tennessee, meanwhile, McCain's massive lead a few days ago (33-25 Huckabee-18 Romney) has tightened as well, with McCain up 32% to 30% to Huckabee and 22% for Romney.

The Republican race still unexpectedly holds some suspense, due in large part to Romney's stunning ability to keep California in play. After the rallying of prominent figures to the McCain wagon and the aura of inevitability the campaign acquired, the mere fact that McCain still has to fight for this underscores how much many conservatives mistrust the Arizona Senator.

In day's second wave of polls, Mason-Dixon is more generous to Clinton than Zogby was this morning

Sunday polls bring new evidence that anything could happen on Tuesday evening, and that a national swing of just a few points could lead a candidate to sweep most of the swing states. Just as the Zogby polls released this morning showed some great Obama momentum, a wave of MSNBC/Mason-Dixon surveys just released have better numbers for Clinton.

The fact that really no one knows where the Democratic race is heading at this point is perfectly illustrated by the latest NYT national poll that was released moments ago. The survey has Obama tying Clinton for the first time, at 41%. But among states that are voting this Tuesday, Clinton is massively ahead, 49% to 31%. Considering that it is hard to find a Super Tuesday state with a big Clinton lead at the moment -- including New York -- this finding is very puzzling. The explanation for Obama's rise comes from his increased support among black voters (49% to 67% in a month) as well as white men (23% to 40%).

The most important state in both parties is shaping out to be California, from which we get two new surveys:

• Mason-Dixon has Clinton ahead by a comfortable 45% to 36% with 16% undecided, more than in any other state polled by the group.
• Among Republicans, McCain has a healthy lead, 40% to 31%.


• But a Rasmussen poll of California shows Obama edging out Clinton 45% to 44%, an improvement from the beginning of the week when he trailed by 3%.
• Rasmussen also shows a much tighter Republican race, with McCain and Romney tied at 38%.

The California poll from both parties are all over the place, with the Democratic race now varying between Clinton +9 to Obama +4 in polls taken at the same time; similarly, the GOP race goes from Romney +3 to McCain plus +9.

The second most crucial state to watch is Missouri, which is a must-win for Romney's survival chances. It is also one of the states that Obama has put at the center of his Super Tuesday strategy. And while recent polls have shown Romney, Huckabee and Obama tying the front-runners, Mason-Dixon has good news for Clinton and McCain:

• In the Dem race, Clinton is ahead 47% to 41%. This is an open-primary, and Obama has a lead among independents, while Clinton leads registered Democrats.
• In the GOP race, McCain is ahead 37% to Huckabee's 27% and Romney's 24%.

The third most important state for Romney's chances is Georgia, which is less competitive among Democrats:

• Mason-Dixon pits the Democratic race closer than other polls we have seen (Zogby has Obama up 20%), showing a 47% to 41% Obama lead. Obama leads 3:1 among black voters, and Clinton is ahead 54% to 31% among whites.
• Among Republicans, McCain is on top 33% to 27% for Romney and 18% for Huckabee.


• Rasmussen has a more more comfortable lead for Obama, 52% to 37%.
• Rasmussen also shows a much tighter GOP race, 31% for McCain, 29% for Romney and 28% for Huckabee.

Remember that the statewide winner of Georgia gets 33 delegates winner-take-all, so even those 2 points would mean that McCain takes 33 delegates home and Romney none. Georgia also gives out delegates at the district-level.

Mason-Dixon also released a survey from New Jersey, which has turned into another unexpected battleground. This morning's Zogby poll had Clinton only up 1% and Monmouth University had her up 14%:

• This survey has Clinton up 46% to 39%, which is a bit more comfortable for her. But it confirms that the Tri-State area is now unexpectedly close, which should allow Obama to get much more delegates than previously expected.
• There is less suspense among Republicans, as McCain is up 46% to 31% for Romney and 5% for Huckabee.

Mason Dixon's last poll is a survey of Arizona's Democratic race. This primary was barely polled until the last 24 hours, when Rasmussen had Clinton up 46% to 41%. Mason-Dixon agrees that the race is tight, pitting it at 43% Clinton and 41% Obama. This is another state that Obama was not expected to win and which has attracted less attention than others, confirming that the tightening we are seeing right now is first and foremost a national one.

The Oklhaoma poll released by SoonerPoll today is a bit of an older one (Sunday-Wednesday) and it does not capture the dynamics of Edwards and Giuliani's withdrawals. Among Republicans, McCain leads with 40% versus Huckabee's 19% and Romney's 17%. Among Democrats, it's Clinton at 41%, Edwards in the "mid-20s" and Obama at 17%. This was one of the states in which Edwards was the strongest, so this poll is not a very good indicator of where things are heading since he is still included.

Finally, we got our first poll from Utah today:

• It confirms that Romney has nothing to fear, and that he will get all of the state's delegates. He leads McCain 84% to... 4%! Utah is winner-take-all, but the irony is that Romney would get all 36 delegates even if it wasn't, as McCain is very far from the viability threshold of 15%.
• Among Democrats, Obama is way ahead, 53% to 29%.

The conventional wisdom is that Obama will fare better than Clinton in the red states holding caucuses on Tuesday -- also North Dakota, Idaho -- and this poll confirms that. And that could help him not only to claim he can appeal to independents, but also to come out of Tuesday with a significant number of states under his belt.

In new wave of polls, Obama takes lead in California and candidates tie in major battlegrounds

Zogby just released its first wave of tracking polls from key Super Tuesday states -- including the first California poll in a few days. And overall these surveys are very good news for Obama supporters, as well as for backers of John McCain... though there is unexpected good news for Mitt Romney as well. Add to this a few other polls released over the past few hours, including the notorious Field poll, and we are in for a wild ride to Super Tuesday.

In the fascinating Clinton-Obama showdown, the numbers are now tight across the board. Only a few states that are being polled (New York, Illinois, Georgia) have a clear leader. The rest of the states -- including some very major contests like CT, NJ, MA, AZ, NM, CA, MO, AL -- are way too close to predict at this point.

This means that the delegate count will be excruciatingly close come Wednesday morning, whether or not one of the candidate pulls ahead in the next two days. But also consider that, with Obama and Clinton separated by a few points in all those states and the campaign now national, Obama could post a massive across-the-board victory in most of these contests on Tuesday night by just gaining a few more points until then. Even if he only prevails by 2-3% each in California, Missouri, Connecticut, Alabama, Arizona, New Jersey and he splits the delegates equally with Clinton, it will clearly be seen as a major victory for Barack. Similarly, a recovery of just a few points -- or a stabilization -- by Clinton could mean that she sweeps all those races, and she would emerge of Super Tuesday as the survivor.

Remember, the race will be analyzed as a delegate contest only if the candidates split the major states pretty much equally. And 72 hours from polls closing, the race is in such flux that a sweep is very much possible -- by either candidate.

And with that, let's get to the polls and let's start with the numbers from California, as we have truly stunning numbers for both parties:

• Zogby shows Barack Obama ahead, 45% to 41%. Obama pulls off this stunning come back because of his strength among independents, men and African-American. Clinton's lead among women is "only" 11%, though it is worth noting that she shows no sign of weakening among Hispanic (64% to 29%).


• The Field poll, meanwhile, shows Clinton up 34% to 32% for Obama with 18% of voters undecideds, a high number which makes it hard to compare this survey with Zogby's. The Field poll is known as by far the best poll of California. Two weeks ago, this poll had Clinton up 12%. One reason for this decline is Obama's massive lead among independents, 54% to 32%. Clinton leads among registered Democrats, 37% to 31%. However, the poll was conducted from January 25th to February 1st, so it is unclear how useful of an indicator it is of what is happening in the state, and the low numbers the two candidates are getting is also due to the fact Edwards was in the race for some of this time.
  


• Both polls have numbers for the GOP race as well. And believe it or not, California is one state in which Romney could actually prevail. Don't forget that the GOP contest here is a closed primary. The Field poll has McCain leading 32% to 24%, with Huckabee at 13% and Ron Paul at 10%.
• The Zogby poll, however, has Romney leading 37% to McCain's 34%. Huckabee gets 12%. Romney is ahead 56% to 18% among very conservative voters.
• We also got a poll from Suffolk earlier tonight, which showed McCain 39% to 32%.

• The Field poll also tried general election numbers and shows Clinton up 45% to 43% and Obama up 47% to 40% against McCain in California, suggesting that there is a major anti-Clinton mood in California right now. The New York Senator led her Arizona colleague by double-digits just two weeks ago.
  

There were signs pointing to Clinton's collapse in the state in polls released last week but Zogby's is the first that shows Obama in the lead. Unfortunately, neither Zogby nor the Field Poll give us any indication of how the early vote breakdowns are affecting the results. With about 25% of the electorate having already locked in their vote, where do these voters fall? It seems unthinkable that early-voting is not taken into account, but it is also really strange that there is no mention of that in either survey!

Clinton should also be reassured that she has kept her lead among Hispanics despite Obama's efforts to cut his losses there. But Clinton is certainly losing her hope of getting a big delegate lead out of California. No one will claim the lion's share of the state's 370 pledged delegates.

Among Republicans, the fact that Romney is staying alive is truly stunning. And he will certainly be able to press on if he pulls off a victory here. But let's not overestimate the impact of even such an unexpected exploit: California is not a winner-take-all state, so McCain will not be shut out of delegates no matter what. But contests where McCain seems untouchable right now (CT, NJ, NY, AZ) are winner-take-all. And Romney will be shut out of delegates there.

Next we have unexpectedly tightening numbers in another state Clinton has to do well in, New Jersey. The last two polls had Clinton up 6 and 12, and two new polls released tonight paint even more opposite pictures:

• Zogby's poll has Clinton having entirely collapsed, edging out Obama 43% to 42% edge. Clinton is ahead among women by only 9% and is holding on to a big lead among whites and liberals; Obama is crushing Clinton among blacks (74-16).
• But Clinton should be reassured by a Monmouth survey that has her up 50% to 36%. One big difference is that Obama's lead among African-American is much less pronounced (57% to 24%). The poll was taken from Wednesday to Friday, so it greatly overlaps with Zogby's.

• Among Republicans, McCain shows no sign of trembling and is likely to get all of the state's delegates. He is ahead 55% to 23% for Romney in the Monmouth poll, almost exactly the same as Zogby's 54% to 23%.

The Tri-State area is clearly no longer a Clinton stronghold, though New Jersey is still looking a bit better for Hillary than Connecticut. There is no question that losing one of the area's three states could be a blow to Clinton, but losing two could be a terrible symbol (I don't think there is much of a need to say what would happen if Clinton loses New York), and one that many newspapers will lead with since press time will come before the victors are known in the Western states.

Zogby provides us also with numbers from Missouri, one of the most fascinating battlegrounds of Super Tuesday:

• Here again, the Clinton-Obama dual is completely tied, with Clinton at 44% and Obama at 43%. Clinton does better among liberals, and Obama among independents. These numbers are consistent with other polls we have seen over the past two days that have consistently shown a toss-up in this state.


• Among Republicans, McCain is up 36% to Huckabee's 27% and Romney's 22%. This contest is also winner-take-all for the GOP, so even such a small victory could give McCain 100% of the delegates. If Romney and Huckabee want to prevent McCain from getting the nomination on Tuesday, they have to stop him from getting Missouri's delegates as that -- combined with those from the Tri-State area -- could really give him too big a lead.

Zogby finishes things off with numbers from two states that are heading towards landslides:

• In Georgia, Barack Obama is ahead 48% to 28%, confirming other polls of this past week. Georgia's demographics are similar to South Carolina's. Also, 23% of voters are still "undecided/someone else," more than in other Zogby surveys, which suggests a lot of Georgia Democrats might be willing to go for John Edwards.
• In New York, meanwhile, McCain is not looking back. He is ahead 49% to 23% against Romney, with Huckabee at 8%.

As an extra bonus, Rasmussen released numbers from a rarely polled state that has a significant number of delegates, Arizona. And the numbers are tight in both parties, surprisingly so given that this is McCain's home state:

• He is leading 43% to 34% in this winner-take-all contest. Arizona is a closed primary, suggesting that the state's conservative voters are not enthusiastic about their Senator.
• In the Democratic race, Clinton is ahead 46% to 41%.

The race to the finish will be fascinating to watch.

Update, in answer to comments: (1) As I said, the early-vote results cannot be not be included in these polls even though it is not made explicit. It would make no sense for the pollsters to ignore it, and it's not like it's hard to include voters who have already voted. Whether Clinton actually has an advantage because of this, as one comment pointed out, can be debated. Were the people who voted Clinton early voters who would have backed her anyway? Or might some of them have changed their mind?
(2) It is silly to accuse me Obama-bias because I point out that he is rising in polls ... which he is. These surveys show Obama gaining on Clinton. In states like Missouri and California, he was down by more than 15% a week ago so his come back is undeniably impressive. Today, all polls show him tied in such battlegrounds. There is no question Obama has surged, but there is also no question that he has not surged enough to take a lead in any of these state but Georgia. As I have said repeatedly, Clinton has not sank because she started off strong enough that her decline of support has resulted in a tie. And I certainly believe (as I said) that both candidates could sweep the close state by just a 1-2% uptick in their national standing.
So everyone stay chill. Polls are polls and there is so much flux in the race right now (Edwards's withdrawal, debate) that very little will be surprising come Tuesday.

A few more polls in tight races, as Obama and Clinton are likely to split delegates

We got a few more polls in the past few hours -- including one from Delaware, a state that hasn't been polled in ages:

• ARG shows the race here is in a statistical tie, with Clinton up 44% to 42%. This is a surprise, as the conventional wisdom holds the Northern Atlantic states to be strongly Clinton.
  
• Among Republicans, McCain is barely ahead of Romney, 41% to 35%. You might remember that Delaware was supposed to be one of Giuliani's four "momentum-proof" states (along with CT, NY and NJ) but that does not seem to be helping McCain jump to the sort of lead he has in the Tri-State area.
  

It looks like Delaware will be yet another state in which Obama and Clinton will split delegates rather equally, though the state's coastal position means that Obama could spin a win here as an upset. And ARG also shows a tight race in Missouri:

• Obama has taken the lead from Clinton, leading by a tight 44% to 42%. This contradicts this morning's Rasmussen poll but SUSA's survey released yesterday also had a toss-up with Clinton up 48% to 44%.
• The race is also very tight among Republicans, with Huckabee leading 31% to 29% for McCain and 27% for Romney.

Missouri is a state in which Edwards's withdrawal freed up a significant number of voters, as the former North Carolina Senator was strong in the Midwest. And it seems that most of that support has migrated to Obama. Missouri will be one of the most crucial states to watch for on Tuesday night... But whoever comes out on top is unlikely to get any kind of delegate advantage.

Meanwhile, Clinton got some good news of her own in two new New York polls that have her leading comfortable. Obama's rise in the Empire State was starting to get embarrassing for the state's Senator:

• Rasmussen shows Clinton is ahead 52% to 34% in her home state.
• Among Republicans, McCain is set to take all of the state's delegates, as he leads Romney 49% to 30%.

• Marist has a very similar result, with Clinton ahead 54% to 38%, the same margin to a month ago when Clinton was up 48% to 31%.
• Among Republicans, McCain is ahead by a massive 62% versus Romney 24%.
  

Rasmussen has Obama winning the black vote by 40% in New York, and that should allow him to pick up a significant number of delegates. Not only will it be very useful in getting a proportion of the statewide delegates, but Obama could fare very well in some districts -- especially in New York City -- that are predominantly African-American. Obama is also targeting Manhattan's Upper East Side, hoping to get Clinton into a draw there or even get an extra delegate based on Obama's advantage among upper-scale voters.

The Marist also has some very important internals. 76% of Obama's supporters are now "strong supporters" versus 58% a month ago. Clinton's percentage has held steady at 79%. There has been a very key process of solidification of Obama's support over the past month. If Obama had lost Iowa, his weaker supporters would have quickly abandoned him, pointing to the importance of his early win. Marist also has Clinton's New York City lead at a small 10%, 52% to 42%. That confirms that Obama will probably be able to tie her delegate number in many districts within the city.

Meanwhile, still no California polls... I'd be very grateful if someone could explain why we got multiple Illinois and New York surveys over the past 48 hours but nothing from California.

Obama rising, but Clinton has not sank just yet

Yesterday's series of polls showed Barack Obama gaining ground across the country in his effort to topple Clinton's national lead. But while Obama clearly has the momentum going into Super Tuesday, Clinton is still ahead in most polls taken in most states. In fact, the only states in which Obama has been shown to have in any survey have been Colorado (one poll had him up 2), Connecticut (one poll had him up 4), Georgia, Illinois and Alabama (though new polls today have Obama down).

Things are going well with for Obama, but Clinton has not sank just yet. Obama might be getting very close to Clinton, but he has not closed the gap entirely just yet. And while he does not need to win a majority of the states to stay alive since the Democratic primary is now a delegate race, he still needs to get some victories here and there. The question then is whether Obama will have enough time in the next three days to capitalize on his momentum. And a series of polls released today suggests Clinton is still able to hold firm.

Gallup's national tracking poll had Obama gaining for nine consecutive days, pulling within 3% yesterday, 44% to 41%. Today was the first day with the entire sample being taken after Edwards's withdrawal, but it is Clinton that benefited the most! As Edwards dropped from 8% to 4%, Clinton rose from 44% to 48%, now ahead of Obama by 7%! The last day Edwards was in the race, the numbers were 42-36-14. Edwards has lost 10% since then, Clinton has gained 6% and Obama 5%, so the theory that Obama is benefiting the most from Edwards's withdrawal is not supported by this survey. Among Republicans, McCain has shot up at 44%, ahead of Romney's 24%. McCain has moved up 12% since Giuliani's withdrawal.

Edwards's withdrawal is also hurting Obama in Alabama, where two new polls have Clinton in the lead. Alabama is shaping up to be one of the most interesting Super Tuesday states, and also one of the most racialy polarized as Clinton dominates among whites and Obama among blacks. Yesterday's SUSA poll had the race tied at 47%. Today:

• Rasmussen shows Clinton ahead 46% to 41%. She is helped by her decent showing among blacks, as she gets 30% -- much more than she did in South Carolina. But the electorate's racial polarization is revealed by this stunning internal: Only 51% of white voters have a favorable image of Obama, versus 82% of blacks!
• Among the GOP, Rasmussen shows McCain holding to a lead even in this Southern state, ahead of Mike Huckabee 38% to 30%, with Mit Romney at 20%.


• Insider Advantage came out with similar results in the Democratic race. Clinton is ahead 46% to 40%. Among Republicans, McCain is barely up 37% to 35% to Huckabee with Romney at 14%.

Obama was hoping to count on victories in Alabama and Georgia to complete a Southern strategy, which is what will make Alabama's results so interesting. Another Southern state in which Obama is trailing is Tennessee, where many polls have given a big lead to Clinton:

• A new Rasmussen survey shows Hillary is ahead 49% to 35%. The electorate is even more polarized in this state, and Obama is having trouble to break through because the African-American electorate is smaller here than in Georgia or South Carolina. Obama is ahead 71% to 12% among blacks, while Clinton is ahead 61% to 23% among whites.
• Rasmussen also polled the GOP contest and found a three-way contest between McCain's 32%, Romney's 29% and Huckabee's 23%.


• A second Tennessee poll was released today by WSMV-TV and shows a tighter race, 36% to 30% for Clinton. But there are a massive number of undecideds as the poll apparently did not push them very hard at all. The internals are also off, as Clinton barely leads among females but has a large lead among men. The same is true of the GOP race, where Huckabee has 24%, McCain 23% and Romney 18%.

Next we have a poll from Missouri, another key battleground state on Tuesday for both parties which Obama has put at the center of his strategy and where Romney is hoping to perhaps derail McCain.

• Yesterday's SUSA poll showed Clinton leading 48% to 44%. Today, a Rasmussen poll has Clinton further ahead, 47% to 38%. 11% of voters still support Edwards -- in a poll taken after his withdrawal. Just a week ago, Clinton was up 43% to 24%, with Edwards at 18%, confirming that Missouri could have been a strong Edwards state.
• Among Republicans, the race is as close as can be, with McCain up 32% to 29% to Huckabee and 28% for Romney.

Missouri offers a perfect example of what I mean when I ask whether Obama will have enough time to catch up. He has made up a lot of ground in the past week, including in Clinton strongholds like New Jersey and New York. But Clinton was so ahead as of a week ago that her loss of 10-15% is still leaving her in the lead.

This poll is also a perfect illustration for the fact that Romney and Huckabee are preventing each other from overtaking McCain by coalescing the conservative vote. Because of the division of the anti-McCain conservatives, McCain will probably be able to coast to wins in most states with no trouble.

Finally, a new Chicago Tribune poll confirms that Obama has no trouble holding his home-state and that McCain is comfortably ahead in blue states:

• McCain leads 43% to 20% for Romney, with Huckabee at 15%.
• Among Democrats, Clinton trails by a massive 55% to 24% -- much superior to Clinton's lead in New York.

Clinton's main objective in Illinois is to cross the 15% viability threshold statewide (which she should have no trouble doing) and in each of the 19 congressional districts which could be difficult for her in some areas of the state. Consider, however, that if Clinton can get even 38% in a four-delegate district, she will force an equal split of delegates. If she gets 20% in a three-delegate, she will get one of three of the allocated delegates -- in other words 33%, much more than her share of the vote. Obama will force similar splits in New York, and it is because of such rules that the Democratic contest could still be a toss-up come Wednesday morning.

Update: In response to a comment, these polls do not tell us anything about the debate's impact just yet. The Rasmussen polls, for example, were all conducted on Thursday so they don't incorporate any swing the debate might have produced. Furthermore, Obama is rising in those polls, even among those he is still trailing widely in. The Rasmussen polls of Alabama and Missouri that have Clinton ahead had her leading by a much larger margin just a week ago, and Obama has surged by at least 10% in both of them. The point is that his rise is for now not enough to overtake Clinton, though things could still change in the next three days... in either direction.

New series of polls has Obama gaining ground in key Super Tuesday battlegrounds

So much for my complaint this morning that there weren't enough Super Tuesday polls. A series of surveys released early this afternoon (2 from Connecticut, 2 from New Jersey, 1 from New York, Illinois and Alabama) have Obama gaining ground in some key battlegrounds. He is clearly moving upwards, the question now being whether he will have time to rise a few more points to upset Clinton across the board come Tuesday. Now imagine how suspenseful this week would have been if Romney had won in Florida three days ago, as both races would then be tight heading into Tuesday.

Overall, all these polls paint a very divided Democratic electorate, with both candidates consistent in what groups they are strongest in. Keep an eye on the stunning gender gap in particular, that is often close to 30 to 40%. Obama gets men, Clinton gets women. Most polls also have Clinton up among whites and Obama among blacks, with Clinton holding firm among Latinos.

First, Gallup's national tacking poll that has the race tightening for the 9th straight day. Now, Clinton's lead is down to 3%, 44% to 41%. Among Republicans, McCain is ahead 39% to 24% against Romney and 17% to Huckabee. Fox News also has a national poll out and it shows a bit better news for Clinton, who is still leading 47% to 37%. The national polls are obviously very instructive at this point, since February 5th is as close to a national primary day as the US has ever seen.

And with that we got an impressive series of state polls. First up, Alabama and a new SUSA poll:

• Among Democrats, Clinton and Obama are tied at 47%. Clinton has a massive lead among white voters (65% to 28%) and Obama among blacks (72% to 23%).
• Among Republicans, McCain is ahead with 40% to Hucakbee's 31% and Romney's 21%.

Alabama should be one of the most fascinating states to watch on Tuesday night. Edwards's withdrawal means that the white vote will not divide itself between Clinton and Obama and the racial polarization of the Southern states will greatly help Clinton here. The proportion of black voters in Alabama is inferior to that of Georgia and South Carolina so that Clinton now has a chance of pulling out a victory here. Among Republicans, the few Southern states that are voting on Tuesday are must-wins for Huckabee, so these numbers are bad news for him.

Next, we move to the Tri-State area where Obama is climbing fast. First, New Jersey from which we get two polls today:

• GQR has Obama closing the gap, now only behind 44% to 38%. Edwards supporters are moving to Barack, explaining his rise.


• SUSA has better news for Clinton who is still ahead 51% to 39%. That is due to a massive edge among women, whom she leads 60% to 31%; Obama is ahead 50% to 40% among men, creating a 39% gender gap!
• Among Republicans, McCain is up 48% to 25% for Romney and 9% for Huckabee.

Let's move next door to New York, where Clinton's lead is not as big as it once was:

• SUSA has Clinton ahead 54% to 38%. 3 weeks ago, Obama was trailing 56% to 29% and while he is far from victory that bump means many many extra delegates.
• Among the GOP, McCain is ahead 55% to 21% against Mitt Romney, seemingly benefiting from the support of former Rudy backers.

And that gets us to the tightest race of the region, Connecticut, where two polls paint two very different pictures:

• SUSA came out with a truly shocking poll that shows Obama ahead 48% to 44% amidst a 30% gender gap. This poll conforms to a Rasmussen survey from a few days ago that had the pair tied at 40%.
• Among Republicans, SUSA shows an unshakable McCain, up 53% to 31% on Romney.


• ARG is more generous to Clinton, showing her ahead 48% to 35%. It agrees in McCain's lead, 43% to 25%. ARG's track-record over the past month is not particularly successful, so keep that in mind.

These numbers are very significant. On the GOP side, all three of these states are winner-take-all. Formerly Giuliani strongholds, they are now assured to go for McCain which means that he will get all of the delegates that are awarded in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey, 183 total! That will by itself guarantee that he will come out with a massive advantage over Romney who will be completely shut out.

Among Democrats, the Tri-State area is Clinton's base, her backyard. Any Obama victory in one of those 3 states would generate awful press for Clinton and would bode well for Obama. Furthermore, Clinton was hoping to bury Obama with a delegate lead out of these three states and it looks like that will not happen. New York especially has 281 delegates at stake, and if Obama is keeping it this close statewide it means he will also win some congressional districts and be very close in others, denying Clinton an advantage in delegate out of her home-state.

And that gets us to Obama's home state of Illinois, where a new poll from ARG shows Obama ahead 51% to 40% in his home-state. A Rasmussen poll this morning had him up at 60%, so both of today's ARG polls have Clinton higher than she is in other polls. There is no question that holding the race close here would give Clinton an unexpectedly high number of delegates. McCain is up 48% to 34% in the GOP race.

Finally, the last poll comes to us from one of the tightest battlegrounds we have on Super Tuesday, Missouri. SUSA came out with a poll that has both races very tight.

• Among Democrats, Clinton is up 48% to 44%, in a 40% gender gap (+22 among women, -18 among men). Another gap here is between registered Democrats (who go for Clinton by 11%) and independents (who prefer Obama by 20%).
• Among Republicans, McCain is ahead 34% to Romney's 30% and Huckabee's 28%, though he runs third among self-identified conservatives. This is the only state polled today that does not have McCain up big, for those keeping track of that.

Obama has long placed Missouri at the center of his Super Tuesday strategy, since he wants to make the argument that Clinton is having trouble winning away from the coasts.

The South Carolina expectations are set, and McCain keeps a small Florida lead

Polls have opened in South Carolina, so it is time to review the state's final polls released this morning and last night. And let's start with Zogby's tracking poll that looked so puzzling yesterday:

• Obama is back to a wide 41% to 26% lead, with Edwards at 19%. Yesterday, it had tightening to 38% for Obama, 25% for Clinton and 21% for Edwards, so it does look like Edwards is losing ground in his race to second.


• SUSA's final survey shows similar results. Obama is up 43% to 30% -- a slight tightening, with Edwards higher than he has been at 24%. Obama gets 73% of the black vote, while Edwards and Clinton tieat 38%.


• And then comes the ARG poll that is off what we have seen with other pollsters: Obama is down to a 39% to 36% lead, with Edwards at 22%. That's a 6% drop for Obama in one day at the expense of Edwards who picks up 10%. Not to hit ARG here, but don't forget they showed just as wild swings the night before South Carolina's GOP primary and it didn't really come to pass. Clinton's lead among whites is 45% to 33% for Edwards while Obama 'only' gets 61% among blacks.

The polls look to have stabilized after the flux they looked to be in yesterday. And this is important because it sets the expectations for tonight and will determine the media's coverage both before and after the results are announced. But the extent of the racial polarization means that a small change in the composition of the electorate could have huge repercussions on the results as a whole, so don't think some sort of surprise couldn't happen, especially when it comes to margins.

And with that, on to the Florida Republican primary where Zogby released its first tracking poll today:

• McCain is up 31% to 28% for Romney with Giuliani far behind at 15% and Huckabee at 10%. Zogby tells us "it was a big one-day result yesterday for McCain," which raises the possibility that McCain is the beneficiary of Thursday's debate after all.

This is the third poll in a row that has McCain with a small lead and above the 30% threshold. I said two days ago that the test for him in Florida is whether he can get out of the 24-25% range in which he was stuck in most polls for a week and whether he could get a big enough plurality in this closed primary -- and he appears to be taking care of that worry. Romney better find a way to stop McCain in the next 3 days for McCain looks very strong already in February 5th states.

Speaking of Super Tuesday, we got a poll from Missouri today released by Rasmussen. This is one of the states that Obama is putting the most hope in:

• Clinton leads 43% to 24% with Edwards at 18%, a disappointing showing for the Illinois Senator 10 days from the contest.
• The GOP results are also interesting, as Huckabee gets 27% and McCain 26%, with Romney at 18% and Giuliani at 7%.

It does look like there is room for only one conservative alternative to McCain, and Huckabee and Romney are dividing up that electorate. If McCain wins Florida and sets himself up for 02/05 battles against Romney in some state (CA), Huckabee in others (the South) and Giuliani in the Northeast it's hard to see how he does not come out of that with a big enough delegate lead to proclaim himself the presumptive nominee.