McCain and Obama - a tale of five (well, four) polls

Hot off the wires, it's the new George Washington Battleground poll . If you don't like the results in that one, you can look at the new Zogby poll just released today. Want a different answer? How about today's Gallup poll? If you want more there's the LA Times/Bloomberg poll released yesterday. Or if you want to know who the greatest "boy band" is, that poll is out too.

Similarities of the polls

In four of the five polls, Barack Obama and John McCain are very close (neither fared well in the greatest boy band poll).

McCain seems to be trending up, while Obama has taken some hits. Here's an excerpt from each poll:

From Gallup:

"McCain and Obama have been nearly tied in Gallup Poll Daily tracking for a full week. This sets the stage for a potential shift in the structure of the race resulting from next week's Democratic National Convention. Even an average "convention bounce" for Obama (a 5-point increase in his support) would give him a significant lead over McCain."

From George Washington:

"Despite a negative political environment for the Republicans, the presidential horserace is within the margin of error (+ 3.1%). With a tight turnout model, McCain currently tops Obama by 1 point (47%-46%). However, when voters are asked which candidate they think is going to win the election, 51% say Obama, versus 34% who think McCain will prevail."

From Zogby:

McCain leads Obama by a 46% to 41% margin. And McCain not only enjoys a five-point edge in a two-way race against Obama, but also in a four-way contest including liberal independent candidate Ralph Nader and Libertarian Bob Barr, the poll reveals. In the four-way contest, McCain wins 44% support, Obama 39%, Barr 3% and Nader 2%
From LA Times/Bloomberg:

"In a head-to-head matchup, Obama holds a narrow edge over McCain, 45% to 43%, which falls within the margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. (In June, Obama was ahead by 12 points in the Times/Bloomberg poll, but other surveys at the time showed him with a narrower lead.)"

From Greatest Boy Band Poll:

"'Take That' have been voted the 'greatest boy band.' The Beatles - considered by many pop commentators as the original boy band - took second place, Jackson Five came third and Irish four-piece Westlife finished fourth. US 60s group The Monkees, who had their own hugely popular TV show, rounded off the top five."

**Updated 4:30pm (ET)**