Movement in the Polls

A new national Gallup poll finds that Obama is gaining ground, and a lot of it, on chief rival Clinton. Previously leading Obama by 19 percent (38 percent to 19 percent), Clinton lead over Obama has slipped to just five percent (31 to his 26 percent) Edwards trails at 16 percent and Gore at 15 percent. The un-candidate surpasses all the other Democrats who do not have more than 3 percent. Clinton's current 45% favorable rating with the American public is her third consecutive reading below 50% in the past two months, and is one of the lowest Gallup has measured for her since 1993. And the poll shows the growing distate with Clinton is broad-based across all races, partys, age groups and both sexes.

Perhaps more troublesome for Clinton is that 52 percent have an unfavorable opinion of her in the poll, versus 45% who have a favorable view. By comparison, Obama has a 52%-27% fav/unfav rating. That means that are a lot of people who have yet to form an opinion on him and can easily be swayed to form a favorable opinion of him.

In the GOP field, Giuliani is at 35%, McCain at 22%, Fred Thompson at 10%, and Romney at 9%. Again, a non-candidate, Thompson, tops a majority of the field of candidates.

The poll also shows that just 36% approve of Bush's job; only 25% approve of Alberto Gonzales' job; and just 26% believe the troop surge in Iraq is making the situation there better.

The fact that Obama never approved of the war, the only candidate with that stance, is a help to him, as the Iraq war continues to be a hot buttom issue. The fact that 74 percent of people are dissatisfied with the troop surge and how the war is being handled he can easily work to his advantage and rope this voters onto his team.

And he's one of the few candidates who got their start working with the American public as a "regular Joe" which will continue to work to his advantage as Clinton continues to poll that she can't relate to the American people, Guiliani doesn't know the cost of daily necessities because he's out of touch and Edwards uses campaign funds for $400 haircuts.