Obama Surges In Latest Gallup Poll

Perhaps driven by this week's horrific financial news, Barack Obama's polling numbers have him back in the lead (according to Gallup, at least) for the first time in two weeks.

Separate Gallup tracking shows that consumer confidence has become significantly more negative as this week progressed, signifying that Americans are clearly paying attention to the major problems facing Wall Street and the big drops in the stock market on Monday and Wednesday. It is not possible to determine precisely how much of Obama's gain this week may have been directly caused by Americans' reactions to the economic stories dominating news coverage in newspapers, television, and on the Internet, although this is a plausible explanation.