The Power of Positive Polling

Here's something interesting: A Gallup national tracking poll released today shows that Barack Obama is leading Hillary Clinton 51-41 — a ten-point, double-digit lead. NBC Political Director Chuck Todd surmises that national polling numbers like those are giving Obama a bit of a bounce in Pennsylvania as voters keep getting the message that he's the front runner.

"I do think that Obama's benefiting a a little bit in some Pennsylvania polling from this idea that he's the front runner, and that can move a couple of points," Todd told Andrea Mitchell. "It's probably he difference between him losing by double digits and single digits in a place like Pennsylvania."

From double digits to single digits, eh? That's interesting — because earlier on MSNBC, I could have sworn I heard a guest say that Clinton had to win Pennsylvania by double-digits to persuasively stay in the race (I went back and looked - sorry, don't recall who it was - but others are saying that too). Todd said he was trying to "wean himself" off the daily national tracking polls because "a couple of them are very erratic sometimes" — but still, these are the polls that show up every day across every platform in the media. (That's been a bee in the HuffPost bonnet in the past.) Be that as it may, if Todd is correct it won't change the fact that such exposure, unrelenting as it is, will have the power to move the needle a few points, which will make the difference between Hillary Clinton looking like an electable challenger or Mike Huckabee. It's sort of interesting to contemplate.

Mitchell and Todd also discuss the flap over free trade with Colombia, and wonder whether both candidates are actually as opposed to it as they'd like Pennsylvania voters to believe. Watch the full clip below.:

Related:
Arianna Huffington: Say No To Pollsters! [HuffPost]