Hey Barack - Where's the 'Bounce?' (updated)

By Rick Moran

Looks like Obama traveled all that way for nothing.

Despite unbelievably positive press coverage with reporters and anchors slavering over the candidate while spectacular visuals were plastered from one end of the media landscape to another, Barack Obama finds himself leading John McCain by a 44-42 margin in the Rasmussen Daily Tracking Poll:

However, the week's polling showed a roller-coaster of opinion surrounding Obama's big speech. The event in Berlin was well-covered and initial reviews on the speech were positive. Polling on Thursday and Friday nights was very strong for the Democrat, leading to a six-point advantage in our Saturday morning release. However, polling for the past three days shows no trace of a bounce. The data looks very similar to results from the period preceding the speech and, with fourteen weeks to go, the race for the White House is a toss-up.

A new USA Today-Gallup poll actually has John McCain ahead by 4 points among likely voters with Obama's 6 point lead from last month cut in half to 3 points among registered voters.

Obama has yet to hold any poll bounce he has received. I would say that this means there is still more than 50% of the country that hasn't made up its mind about Obama. This becomes clear when you look at the numbers for whether he is qualified to be commander in chief. Fully 41% of voters do not believe he can handle the job.

And in these perilous times, that is one hurdle the candidate can't ask voters to "hope" he can overcome.

Hat Tip: Rich Baehr

Update from Ray Robison:

One in four had a negative reaction to Obama’s trip. Even if that were all Republicans, it’s still a pretty bad backfire, since they are trying to draw Republicans over.