Two sets of polls from Zogby International as the day begins:• In North Carolina, Zogby says, its latest tracking poll gives Sen. Barack Obama a 9 percentage point lead (46%-37%) over Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton as they head toward Tuesday's Democratic presidential primary in the Tarheel State.
• In Indiana, which also votes Tuesday, Zogby has Obama at 43% ; Clinton at 42%.
Some things to keep in mind:• Polls are snapshots of public opinion, and can't be viewed as forecasts of what will happen if Election Day is more than about 24 hours away.
• While Zogby's last poll before the Pennsylvania primary nearly matched Clinton's 9+ point margin of victory, the firm was way off with its last poll before the New Hampshire primary -- it thought Obama would win there; Clinton did.
• Both sets of polls include quite large groups of voters who are either undecided or plan to vote for someone other than Obama and Clinton. In North Carolina, Zogby says, that group was 17% of those surveyed. In Indiana, it was 15%. So there are a lot of folks in each state who could make their decisions at the last minute.
• These polls were done Thursday and Friday using "live operators," Zogby says, which should offset the criticism the firm gets for the polls it does with automated "robo-call" technology.
• The surveys covered 627 "likely" Democratic primary voters in North Carolina and 629 "likely" Democratic primary voters in Indiana. All the results have margins of error of +/- 4 percentage points.
• There will surely be other polls later today. Watch for news from Rasmussen Reports and Gallup, and check Real Clear Politics' poll chart as well.
Meanwhile, in other news this morning our Gannett colleagues at the Pacific Daily News report that turnout was heavy today for the island's Democratic presidential caucuses and that ballots are now being counted. Four Democratic convention delegates are at stake. Check back at the PDN for news as the votes are tabulated.
