No good news for the Messiah as Rasmussen poll results today mimic Gallup poll results (which many on the liberal left wanted to dismiss as inaccurate outliers) from earlier in the week:

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Saturday shows that the race for the White House has become breathtakingly close. Barack Obama attracts 44% of the vote while John McCain earns 43%. When “leaners” are included, it’s Obama 47% and McCain 46%. While the race has been very close for much of the past few weeks, McCain has never held the lead for even a single day in the two weeks since Obama clinched the nomination (see recent daily results).

This from the same poll is perhaps even better news for McCain:

New data released today shows that the number of Americans who consider themselves to be Democrats fell in July. While Obama’s party still enjoys a big advantage over the GOP, the gap between the parties is now the smallest that it has been since January.

What’s more, it seems as though the McCains are liked in general more than the Obamas:

McCain is viewed favorably by 56% of voters, Obama by 53%. McCain earns positive reviews from 86% of Republicans while Obama does the same from 82% of Democrats. Among unaffiliated voters, 60% have a favorable opinion of McCain. For Obama, that number is 50%.

Cindy McCain is viewed favorably by 50% of American voters, Michelle Obama by 46%. Other key stats of Election 2008 are updated daily at Obama-McCain: By the Numbers. Premium Members can also visit the Daily Snapshot for additional information.

It’s a close race, to be sure, but if Obama can’t even eke out a lead after weeks of adoring media coverage during his world tour he’s in serious trouble.