The beginning and the end of the 2008 General Election campaign were remarkably stable. Initially, after Barack Obama wrapped up the Democratic nomination, he was ahead of John McCain by four to seven points just about every night for the entire month of June. At the other end of the campaign, Obama was consistently up by about five to seven points for the last 40 days of the campaign.

With the country preparing to inaugurate Barack Obama as the next president of the United States next month, it’s hard to remember how improbable the notion of a President Obama seemed just a year ago. In fact, all indications are that Obama himself wasn’t really expecting to win it all in 2008.

Nearly nine out of 10 voters (88%) are glad the presidential election is over, but voters are evenly divided over whether politics in Washington will become more cooperative despite Barack Obama’s call for change from business as usual.

The final Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Election 2008 showed Barack Obama leading John McCain 52% to 46%. We are pleased to report that those figures precisely matched the actual election returns.

For John McCain, the crash of Lehman Brothers on Wall Street was worse than the Crash of 1929. Looking back over the course of the campaign, it seems clear that the financial meltdown in mid-September was the final, decisive, event that secured Obama’s path to the White House.

So when did voters really decide how they were going to vote?

As the presidential campaign comes to a close, a majority of voters (51%) say most reporters have tried to help Barack Obama win the presidency.

Republicans are happier with their vice presidential candidate than their presidential nominee, while Democrats feel good about both candidates on their ticket, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

On the night before America votes, 59% of likely U.S. voters expect Barack Obama to be elected president.