Analysis by Chris Graham
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Barack Obama appears to be getting at least a short-term bump from his fact-finding mission to the Middle East.
The latest Gallup daily tracking update has the Democrat Obama leading Republican John McCain by a 47 percent-to-41 percent margin on the strength of what Gallup is calling one of Obama’s stronger performances in its daily tracking of the general-election campaign.
Obama had entered the weekend with a razor-thin 45 percent-to-44 percent lead over McCain, but that was before the news that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki supports Obama’s proposal to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq within 16 months and that President Bush is now agreeing to a “general time horizon” for withdrawals to begin hit the front pages.
The news bits have put the McCain campaign on the defensive in light of the Arizona senator’s continued insistence that withdrawals could put U.S. military interests at risk.
Polls conducted by Gallup and other polling organizations register support among the American population for setting timetables for a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq anywhere from 52 percent to 60 percent.
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