Horserace
November 2, 2008 6:00 PM

CBS Poll: Obama Maintains 13 Point Lead

With two days left until the presidential election, Barack Obama continues to lead John McCain by 13 points among likely voters, 54 percent to 41 percent, a new CBS News poll finds. The margin in the new poll, released Sunday, is identical to that in a CBS News poll released Saturday.

As the number of undecided voters has dwindled, so has the number that says their minds can still change. More than nine in 10 of each candidate’s voters now say they have made up their minds about who to vote for and are not likely to change. Just seven percent of Obama voters and 8 percent of McCain voters say they still might change their minds.

With two days to go, only 8 percent of likely voters are uncommitted – either they have not yet chosen a candidate, or their minds could still change. Nearly all of these uncommitted voters say they plan to vote.

Today’s uncommitted voters are mostly white, and more than half are age 45 or older. Just over half are men, and most live in the Midwest and South. Half describe themselves as moderate, and many are not partisan - four in 10 are independents.


This poll was conducted among a random sample of 908 adults nationwide, including 804 registered voters, interviewed by telephone October 30-November 1, 2008. Phone numbers were dialed from RDD samples of both standard land-lines and cell phones. The error due to sampling for results based on the sample of registered voters could be plus or minus four percentage points. The error for subgroups is higher.
Tags:
poll ,
cbs news poll
Topics:
Polls
Add a Comment See all 168 Comments
by express-talk November 2, 2008 7:35 PM PST
A GOOD NEWS FOR AMERICA IF OBAMA WINS ! EVEN MY WHITE CONSERVATIVE GRANDFATHER CAN4T HAVE MORE OF THE SAME! WE FEEL COMFORTABLE WITH OBAMA(HALF WHITE HALF BLACK, INTELLIGENT AND ENERGETIC) LET THE CANDIDATE WITH WISDOM AND ENERGY NEEDED TO CLEAN REPUBLICAN MESS WIN !! WE PRAY IN JESUS NAME AMEN !
Reply to this comment
by tarheelpoder November 2, 2008 7:40 PM PST
Great poll. I am so ready for Tuesday night so we can cleanse the country of the stench of the Bush-McCain Era. Will CBS release their final poll on Monday or on Tuesday?
Reply to this comment
by irmcvet97 November 2, 2008 7:48 PM PST
Never in MY lifetime has there been anything like Obama. Jack Kennedy was close but no where NEAR Obama AND Kennedy didn''t have to endure the vicious attacks and raw hatred that Obama has!
Reply to this comment
by gpslibra November 2, 2008 7:49 PM PST
My 90 year old Mom and 88 year old Dad already voted for the Obama/Biden ticket...and they live in Arizona! Go Mom and Dad! Love you!
Reply to this comment
by tarheelpoder November 2, 2008 7:51 PM PST
Great poll. I am so ready for Tuesday night so we can cleanse the country of the stench of the Bush-McCain Era. Will CBS release their final poll on Monday or on Tuesday?
Reply to this comment
by yoy91913 November 2, 2008 7:51 PM PST
I am going to feel so proud and happy for our country on Tuesday.

Obama/Biden!!!! Yeah!!!!!!
Reply to this comment
by louiseriley November 2, 2008 7:58 PM PST
I am so proud of Barack Obama and his campaign. I voted for him early in Florida. The McCain/Palin campaign is in the gutter, they are morally and ethically bankrupt. So long Sarah!
Reply to this comment
by greg285 November 2, 2008 8:00 PM PST
This is great news! Chuck Todd polls (MSNBC) seem to be inaccurate! The polls from CBS, USA Today and fivethirtyeight polls apear to be more accurate and reflect the voting demographics of the country as a whole! Go Obama-Biden..Can''t wait until Nov 5th as that is the day that we Americans take back our beloved country from the Neo-Conservatives, who, in my opinion, are Anti-American and don''t believe in the ''Dream of America''...
Reply to this comment
by nybornbap November 2, 2008 8:12 PM PST
While phonebanking I experienced the diversity of Obama supporters in terms of race, age, religion, sexual orientation, etc. ... it is so profound! Almost unimaginable. Obama rocks! America begins a new chapter in its history on Nov. 5th.
Reply to this comment
by leighg1 November 2, 2008 8:16 PM PST
Sen. Obama has the temperament, intelligence, energy, and judgment to lead us out of the ditch that Bush/McCain''s policy has led us to.

Get ready everybody for a new journey ahead!
Reply to this comment
by dragonfly125 November 2, 2008 8:29 PM PST
Guess what Obama and crew are already planning the moves to lower
your expectations......the draft is written and will soon be delivered.
DO NOT BE BAMBOOZLED
VOTE MC CAIN
Reply to this comment
by linda_rob November 2, 2008 8:52 PM PST
I would like to know who is being polled and where they are getting their numbers. I for one along with a lot of people that I know have not been asked who we are voting for. How many people have they asked? I hope they only asked a handful of people and they will be shocked on election day to find that their polls were way off. There can''t be that many people in this world taken in by the likes of the Obama camp and heaven help us if we have to endure his wife and her mouth for four years.
Reply to this comment
by albertw40 November 2, 2008 9:03 PM PST
It is not over until it is over. Obama workers should work their buns off until the last voter station is closed, and everyone who favors Obama should be sure to vote, no matter how long the lines or what election officials do to try to run you off. There''s going to be a lot of that this year. I saw the video of the old gal who chairs the Philadelphia election commission answering a question about the probability of unreasonably long lines. She said it didn''t matter. People stand in lines overnight to buy I-Pods. So it''s clear Philadelphia election officials want to run the working middle class and poor people off from voting. They want to run off those whose physical or work situation make it so they can''t stand in line for hours and hours. In my own state (Missouri) in 2004 they closed the polls with some people in line. Some of those people never got to vote.
Reply to this comment
by November 2, 2008 9:08 PM PST
I AM TOO AND IN 4 YEARS I WILL BE ABLE TO SAY I TOLD YOU SO.....
Reply to this comment
by CNH November 2, 2008 9:08 PM PST
The problem with the McCain campaign is that they have no positive, productive message of their own, no specific policies for improving the economy that differ from those of GWB, no solutions for improving America''s standing among foreign nations, no significant platform whatsoever. He is a one-trick pony pushing his vague concept of being a "reformer" and a "maverick".

As a result, he has relied on negative attack ads and speeches from the get-go. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and McCain is a desperate man whose blind ambitions have clouded any sense of judgement, fairplay, and code of ethics. (Palin, on the other hand, never had a code of ethics--only a holier-than-thou sense of morality.)

McCain and Palin have regressed from "gutter politics" to "sewer politics".
Reply to this comment
by zalmayz November 2, 2008 9:08 PM PST
Glad to hear this great poll go out and vote for OBAMA on 11/04/2008
MaCain supporters can vote on 11/05/2008.
Reply to this comment
by skeetchamp November 2, 2008 9:10 PM PST
Obama supporters had better get out there and VOTE if they want these poll numbers to stand... in reality.
They''d better get their friends to vote to so they can overwhelm the number of votes Republicans will steal.
Reply to this comment
by November 2, 2008 9:10 PM PST
I CANT WAIT TO GET MY CHECK I WANT MY SHARE OF THE AMERICAN DREAM AND OBAMA BETTER DELIVER....
Reply to this comment
by November 2, 2008 9:13 PM PST
THEY ARE TOO FAR GO TO SEE THE LIGHT DRAGON FLY THE MARXIST IDEAL IS THE DUMMBING DOWN OF AMERICA AND OBAMA SEEMS TO BE A MASTER OF THE FLIMFLAM... HES HAS SOLD THE GULLIBLE A BILL OF GOODS AND THE SWALLOWED I
Reply to this comment
by zalmayz November 2, 2008 9:19 PM PST
Washington Post polls as of 8:00pm 11/02/08 OBAMA 54 MaCain 43
USATODAY polls is 54 for OBAMA 43 for MaCain more good news for OBAMA keep it up
Reply to this comment
by targaray-2009 November 2, 2008 9:27 PM PST
- END THE DISASTER OF THE BUSH-McCAIN YEARS - VOTE FOR CHANGE - 2008
Reply to this comment
by nihila November 2, 2008 9:40 PM PST
RANDJA57:

Why not give us some explicit predictions of what you will tell us in 2012. So far, just hot air ...
Reply to this comment
by nihila November 2, 2008 9:40 PM PST
RANDJA57:

Why not give us some explicit predictions of what you will tell us in 2012. So far, just hot air ...
Reply to this comment
by dbraddy November 2, 2008 9:47 PM PST
globalcrisis cherry-picked half a dozen quotes from Obama''s books and presented them out of context intending to mislead the unwary into believing the exact opposite of Obama''s current beliefs. With such a talent for subterfuge globalcrisis should go to work for the McCain campaign.
Reply to this comment
by targaray-2009 November 2, 2008 9:51 PM PST
Bush/McCain/Palin are on the Low-Road to the Highest Office in the Land...

- NOT THIS TIME - VOTE FOR CHANGE - 2008
Reply to this comment
by rgn07 November 2, 2008 10:01 PM PST
What bothers me is the low youth turnout so far. Obama needs those votes and i hope they show up on election day. So here''s a last minute appeal to all you young new voters. This is like serving your country, mapping your future. Let''s do this. Let''s get the job done.
Reply to this comment
by alabamatoy November 2, 2008 10:15 PM PST
NEEDERBAUR

Instead of spending your time cutting and pasting from the extremists anti-American right wing nuts'' talking points, may be you should use that time to read "Dreams of My Father" or "The Audacity of Hope" .. A mind is a terrible thing to waste .. Under Obama''s education plan you may get the help you need!!
Reply to this comment
by hhkeller November 2, 2008 10:28 PM PST
It''s time to throw all Republican politicians under the bus on Tuesday. They''ve been defrauding our federal state a local governments for far too long.
Reply to this comment
by jone775 November 2, 2008 10:47 PM PST
Why is he maintaining this lead? Because his economic, foreign, and domestic policies jive with the majority of Americans'' common sense intuitions. McCronie''s plans...?? silence
Reply to this comment
by November 2, 2008 11:05 PM PST
its over--Republicans have tried to destroy our country--now they will feel the wrath of the people!!!
Reply to this comment
by js99955 November 3, 2008 12:25 AM PST
NEEDERBAUR:

Get real!!! Taking words out of context is meaningless. You can do the same thing with virtually any book. Why don''t you get an education and improve you''re reading comprehension skills. You should be embarrassed.
Reply to this comment
by heartlandjim November 3, 2008 12:27 AM PST
Yes!!! Great news on the poll! Go Obama!!!!
Reply to this comment
by November 3, 2008 12:59 AM PST
a href="http://www.plainmcsame.org" img style="border:none;" src="http://www.plainmcsame.org/images/signs_500/plain-mcsame.jpg" / /a
Reply to this comment
by November 3, 2008 1:01 AM PST
At last, something to look forward to after eight years of Republican domination, defying and denying us government for the people. McCain claims he has always put country first - if that were true he wouldn''t have chosen to run with the McCain/Palin ticket.
Barack Obama offers us hope that together we can repair our country.
Reply to this comment
by timetohope November 3, 2008 1:05 AM PST
Read the whole book, get the whole story.
It''s time for hope for a change.
From DREAMS FROM MY FATHER, P.111, where Barack Obama comes to terms with the fact that he has one grandmother that is white and another that is black: "Only a lack of imagination, a failure of nerve, had made me think that I had to choose between them. They all asked the same thing of me, these grandmothers of mine. My identity might begin with the fact of my race, but it didn''t, couldn''t, end there."
Reply to this comment
by reagan1011 November 3, 2008 1:05 AM PST
Patricia
If all you have is hope in obama change, you need a new strategy!
You''re a victim of media!
Reply to this comment
by smurfcrusher November 3, 2008 1:12 AM PST
FINALLY! Good news and hope for America!!

Reply to this comment
by timetohope November 3, 2008 1:18 AM PST
Get the whole story.
From DREAMS FROM MY FATHER, page 111, where Barack Obama comes to terms with the fact that he has one grandmother that is white and another that is black: "Only a lack of imagination, a failure of nerve, had made me think that I had to choose between them. They all asked the same thing of me, these grandmothers of mine. My identity might begin with the fact of my race, but it didn''t, couldn''t, end there."

My friends, it is time for hope, for a change.
Reply to this comment
by exredstater November 3, 2008 1:32 AM PST
It is no surprise that the John McCain %u2013 Sarah Palin ticket has gone increasingly negative down the home stretch. They really don%u2019t have any other options to close the gap. However, a new negative advertisement has been leaked that is particularly disturbing in its hypocrisy.

http://digg.com/2008_us_elections/Leaked_Ad_for_McCain_Palin_Abstinence_Only_for_America

Sarah Palin has consistently advocated abstinence-only education in schools, despite the fact that this philosophy has resulted with both Palin and her daughter conceiving out of wedlock. Clearly, abstinence-only has not worked for the Palin family, yet Sarah Palin wants to prescribe this in place of comprehensive sexual education for other young Americans.

This advertisement came from the same 527 group that put forth this anti-Obama spot last week%u2026

http://digg.com/2008_us_elections/Leaked_Pro_McCain_527_Negative_Ad_Small_Town_Fear_Itself/
Reply to this comment
by majorteddy November 3, 2008 1:49 AM PST
I just read Nate Silver''s comments and analysis on 538.com . WOW! I wrote down everything he projected. I am going to watch it and see how close he is. I just stumbled onto this guy Friday night, although I had been looking at the maps on 538.com for some time. I have the impression that this guy is super smart. I would like to see him and Chuck Todd team up. I think he is going to be very important in the country''s future. We lost Tim Russert, but others will come along . Maybe we have seen the emergence of Todd and Silver at just the time they are needed.
Reply to this comment
by greenfun November 3, 2008 2:02 AM PST
Conyers calls for investigation into Aunti Zeituni info leak; Joe the Plumber still on his own
By Michelle Malkin %u2022 November 1, 2008 11:25 PM
I predicted the totally predictable last night. And so it has come to pass: The left-wing fairweather friends of privacy are all over the leak of Aunti Zeituni%u2019s immigration info %u2014 while Joe The Plumber remains persona non grata. Democrat Rep. John Conyers has already called for a federal investigation. The WaPo is already up with an A-section story on the anonymous leak. And the liberal blogs are up in arms.
The MSM abhor anonymous leaks %u2014 unless they%u2019re helping to undermine Bush administration anti-terrorism programs or conservative causes and candidates.
Reply to this comment
by alaskandemo November 3, 2008 3:19 AM PST
Concening this Obama will bankrupt the coal industry foolishness. This is absolutely false. If you listen to the audio; It states that the industries that use coal and pollute will be fined and thus become bankrupt due to fines being increased. Not once did Obama say that he would bankrupt plant who use clean coal. Stop trying to get people all fired up over lies.
Reply to this comment
by rovitoreview November 3, 2008 6:25 AM PST
Here''s a first hand military perspective on why we haven''t caught Bin Laden yet....

Go to:

http://rovitoreview.blogspot.com/
Reply to this comment
by irmcvet97 November 3, 2008 7:20 AM PST
Unless Chris Shay''s can somehow maintain his seat in the House, there will be not ONE Republican left in the ENTIRE NORTHEAST! It isn''t just there either. IF the Republican Party doesn''t do some SERIOUS House Cleaning, rid itself of the Southern Fascist control of the Party, they will be extinct in 10 years. The ONLY reason McSame has a chance, granted small, is that HE has run against that party. The Democrats had to make the SAME decision facing the Republican''s in the 60''s and granted it is not an easy one. But IF we are to EVER see that area of the nation move into the modern era and STOP flying the confederate battle flag, THEY, the PARTY of Lincoln, MUST say it loud and clear!!
Reply to this comment
by olivia4441 November 3, 2008 7:47 AM PST
Help spread the word! " Flush Obama!" The 2008 presidential election takes place Tuesday, Nov. 4. Americans who love freedom and still believe in The American Dream MUST vote for John McCain. The alternative? Well, it%u2019s equivalent to flushing more than two centuries of greatness down the toilet.
Reply to this comment
by insight2008 November 3, 2008 8:19 AM PST
Who knows which polls are correct. CBS was not even in the ballpark last election. IBD missed the last one by 0.4% and they have it a 2 pt race as of today.
I do know that the country is severely divided and polarized.
I also think that the London Times has it correct that OB''s team has now started meetings to try and explain why all they have promised may not come to pass quickly, if at all. Euphoria to despair..their words, not mine(London Times).
Rove is not even in the same league as Axlerod, who has pulled the largest hoax in history on the American poor. Folks, all those tax cuts, welfare checks, and govt equivalent healthcare ain''t happening and they know it.
GM is going to go belly up. GE is struggling. And on and on. GM has to add about 27% (or did) to the price of their autos just to cover Union benefits. So, True American, what make car are you driving. Got the best deal? And Obama wants to increase their taxes and/or fine them for not providing even more benefits.
So, there will be dancing in the streets on Nov 5 because Bush and Palin are history. Now, OB, all eyes turn to you and your promises. My bet, you start backing up. You have swooned your way to victory by promises and nothing more than emotions re Bush. Bush upset me also. However, emotions will not rule my logic for the next 4 years. My vote can''t be bought. For those of you who say you will be satisfied just to throw all the conservatives in the street, we will see.
Reply to this comment
by megawhy November 3, 2008 8:59 AM PST
I love the Media polls - always wrong always misleading. Gee CBS could you simply report the truth and stop trying to create history.
Reply to this comment
by joe68sg1 November 3, 2008 9:12 AM PST
Article from Yahoo! Just another example of republiCON distain for our country.

Bush team rushes environment policy changes

Whether it''s getting wolves off the Endangered Species List, allowing power plants to operate near national parks, loosening regulations for factory farm waste or making it easier for mountaintop coal-mining operations, these proposed changes have found little favor with environmental groups.

Even some free-market organizations have joined conservation groups to urge a moratorium on last-minute rules proposed by the Interior Department and the Environmental Protection Agency, among others.

John Kostyack of the National Wildlife Federation, which joined Lehrer''s group to call for a ban on these last-minute rules, said citizens are cut out of the process, allowing changes in U.S. law that the public opposes, such as rolling back protections under the Endangered Species Act.

Industry is likely to benefit if Bush''s rules on the environment become effective, Madia said.

"Whether it''s the electricity industry or the mining industry or the agriculture industry, this is going to remove government restrictions on their activity and in turn they''re going to be allowed to pollute more and that ends up harming the public," Madia said in a telephone interview.

What is unusual is the speedy trip some of these environmental measures are taking through the process.
Reply to this comment
by jmhubers November 3, 2008 9:16 AM PST
If we could scare up comments from Kerry supporters at this time in the election cycle in 2004 we would be reading exactly the same kind of things. I know. I was a Kerry supporter and I, too, wanted to believe the polls were wrong.

What I find amusing, however, is the way so many Republicans not only want to believe the polls wrong, but see them as some kind of left-wing conspiracy.

Let''s get this clear: it is the job of pollsters to gather as scientifically accurate numbers as possible. They know they aren''t always right, but its their job to be accurate.

More important - the average of all the polls right now shows Obama to be up by over 6% - more than Bush was over Kerry or Gore at this time. He is also up in all of the swing states. Or do you think all pollsters are part of the vast left wing conspiracy?

Get a life.
Reply to this comment
by brucie2006 November 3, 2008 9:18 AM PST
McLame is loosing it, when addressing an audience (small), he said, "my fellow prisoners," instead of his usual, "my friends."

Obama ''08
Reply to this comment
See all 168 Comments

About Horserace

Description for Horserace

Add to your favorite news reader
google
yahoo
msn
  • MOST POPULAR
  • Viewed
  • Commented