Picking Joe Biden may not have had any impact on the polls, but its clear that the just-concluded Democratic National Convention has helped Barack Obama move up in the polls.

First, the Rasmussen poll shows Obama with a lead outside the margin of error:

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday shows Barack Obama attracting 46% of the vote nationwide while John McCain earns 43%. When “leaners” are included, it’s Obama 49% and McCain 45% (see recent daily results). Sign up for a free daily e-mail update. This is Obama’s biggest lead since late July, when he opened up a six-point advantage following his summer speech in Berlin

Discussing the bounce, Rasmussen notes the following:

[H]ere are some different ways of looking at Obama’s bounce: · Obama’s pre-convention lead of three points has increased by a point. That’s something John Kerry failed to accomplish. His polling numbers peaked just before the convention in 2004. · But, Obama is still below his biggest lead of the year—six points—which he achieved with the bounce from his Berlin speech and surrounding hoopla. · Obama has gained three percentage points compared to a week ago. · Obama is now supported by 83% of Democrats, up from 79% a week ago. · Sixty-six percent (66%) of Democrats have a Very Favorable opinion of Obama, up from 58% a week ago. · Thirty-five percent (35%) of all voters have a Very Favorable opinion of Obama, up from 32% a week ago. Of course, some of the bounce comes from changing perceptions of John McCain. A week ago, Obama and McCain were both viewed favorably by 55% of voters nationwide. Today, Obama is viewed favorably by 56% (up a point) while McCain’s favorable fell by two points to 53%. That’s McCain’s lowest rating since July 8.

What impact Sarah Palin will have on those numbers is something that will be interesting to watch over the coming days.

In addition to Rasmussen, the Gallup Daily Tracking Poll shows Obama expanding the lead that developed yesterday:

PRINCETON, NJ — The latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking finds Barack Obama moving to an eight percentage point lead over John McCain, 49% to 41%. Obama’s significant lead over McCain almost certainly reflects the effects of the Democratic National Convention. The two presidential candidates were tied at 45% in the last Gallup Poll Daily tracking results conducted entirely before the convention began. The latest results include interviews from Tuesday through Thursday night, though most of the interviewing was conducted before Obama’s acceptance speech late Thursday. Gallup has measured the convention bounce for candidates in previous years by comparing the last poll conducted entirely before the convention began with the first poll conducted entirely after the convention concludes. That historical calculation is complicated this year by the intense media focus on McCain’s selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate on Friday, and the increasing focus on next week’s Republican National Convention. Obama has clearly seen a rise in the polls since the convention began with a 4-point increase in his support (from 45% to 49%) with the margin moving eight points in his favor. Obama’s largest advantage at any point in the campaign was a 9-point lead recorded July 24-26, so as his party’s convention concludes, he is about as strongly positioned as he has been at any point this year.

Will it continue tomorrow, and will Obama go over the 50% mark for the first time ?

Additionally, Gallup notes that Obama seems to have regained the conservative Democrat support he seemed to be losing earlier this week:

PRINCETON, NJ — Barack Obama’s gain in support among registered voters from Monday to Wednesday of this week was in part the result of gains among conservative Democrats — the group among whom the Democratic nominee had lost ground last week as he slipped to an overall tie with John McCain. Obama and McCain were tied 45% to 45% among voters in interviewing conducted last week (Aug. 18-24). This represented a small decline for Obama, and analysis of the trend line of support for the two candidates among subgroups showed that it was due to a slippage among the relatively small group of Democrats with a conservative ideology. Now, with Obama holding a 6-point lead over McCain Monday through Wednesday of this week (Aug. 25-27), Obama has gained back that support and then some, moving from a 63% to a 77% level of support among conservative Democrats. Obama has the support of 92% of liberal Democrats and 79% of moderate Democrats, basically unchanged from last week’s percentages. It is likely that conservative Democrats consist disproportionately of Hillary Clinton supporters, although this cannot be documented from the tracking data because no question about prior support of candidates is included. Analysis of Gallup Poll Daily tracking data from May, however, shows that conservative Democrats disproportionately supported Clinton over Obama for the Democratic nomination by a 48% to 43% margin — more than her support from either moderate or, in particular, liberal Democrats. (Overall, Democrats in May tilted toward Obama by a 49% to 43% margin.) This suggests that last week’s drop in support for Obama may have resulted from defections by conservative Democrats whose loyalty to Hillary Clinton was brought to the forefront as the Democratic Convention approached, but whose angst Clinton assuaged with her strong support for Obama as the convention has unfolded.

Over the next day or two, we should begin to see the impact from last night’s speech, although it may be diluted by the McCain/Palin buzz.