The weekly Economist/YouGov poll conducted Aug. 11-13 has Barack Obama in a statistical dead heat with John McCain at 41 percent to 40 percent with 4 percent preferring "other," 12 percent undecided and 2 percent saying they will not vote. The margin of error is 4 points. Last week's poll had Obama with a 3 point edge.

Barack Obama leads John McCain 42 percent to 39 percent with 4 percent preferring "other," and 13 percent undecided in an Economist/YouGovPolimetrix poll conducted Aug. 4-6. That puts them within the 4 point margin of error. There's a lot of stuff in this poll and it's worth a look.

The poll did not find much of a gender gap. When it comes to age, Obama leads 57 percent to 21 percent among voters under 29 while McCain has a 9 point lead among voters over 45. McCain leads by 9 points among white men while Obama leads 84 percent to 2 percent among blacks (about 11 percent of the sample) and 48 percent to 30 percent among Hispanics (about 7 percent of the sample). Forty-one percent of those surveyed predicted a very close election, 32 percent believe Obama will win and 18 percent say McCain will win.