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The CBSNews poll from late last night after McCain's speech shows a dead heat in overall national polls. If those early poll results are accurate and he pulled even after what most voters would agree was his weakest portion of the campaign, that bodes well for the Republican ticket.
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Fail.
Those poll numbers were released before the speech. Even if they had been released after the speech there's no way a poll can be conducted in an hour or two.
So, now you'll say that's even better news for the Republicans. Maybe, but let's look at the internals of the CBS poll. Between the last poll where Obama was +8 and this poll where they're tied the sample changed dramatically. This second poll had nearly six percent more Republicans than the previous poll. Every polling outfit struggles with putting together a realistic model of voters, so this isn't bias, the second sample may turn out to closer model voters for all we know. However, when the sample changes this much from one poll to the next it's impossible to validate a large change in the outcome.
McCain will likely get some bounce starting with today's numbers, but you need to look more closely at polls, especially the ones that tell you what you want to hear.