Yeah, yeah, there's the shiny 51% mark for Obama in both registered and likely voters and his 5 point lead with registered voters (4 with likely). Believe it or not though, that's not the worst news for McCain there. His decline isn't just in the baseline numbers.
What are the highlights? When talking about the financial crisis, the Republicans are blamed by 47% of the respondents with only 24% thinking that the Democrats are at fault. That opens up a serious advantage for Obama in campaigning.
He's in trouble in other spots:
A couple of other factors in the survey appear to be contributing to Obama's slight rise and McCain's slight drop in the polls. Fifty-three percent of those questioned say McCain, if elected, will mostly carry out the policies of President George W. Bush, who remains extremely unpopular with most Americans. That's up 3 points from our previous poll.
The survey also indicates Obama's recaptured the advantage on "change": Just after the Republican convention, Obama's lead had shrunk to 8 points when voters were asked which candidate would be more likely to bring change. It's now up to 14 points in the new poll.
Another factor could be McCain's running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. Thirty-five percent of those questioned have an unfavorable opinion of her, up 8 points from our previous survey. And two-thirds believe she and her husband should testify in the Alaska investigation into her firing of a state official.
Palin sinking, the economy being the fault of the Republicans, the McCain being a third bush term argument gaining more force, I don't see much good news in there for McCain.