Mixed Signals in Latest Ohio Polls

According to one poll, John McCain holds a statistically significant lead over Barack Obama. But another poll has Obama ahead.

A Rasmussen survey released Tuesday has McCain leading Obama 46 percent to 40 percent. The poll’s margin of error is 4.5 percentage points.

A Public Policy Polling survey released Monday puts Obama in the lead, 48 percent to 40 percent.

FiveThirtyEight.com’s Nate Silver notes that some of the difference between the polls is due to party weighting — Rasmussen polls surveyed a higher proportion of Republicans than the other poll. The polls were also taken at different times, with Rasmussen calling respondents Monday and PPP gathering responses from Thursday through Sunday, Silver writes.