These inflated news media polls are intended to discourage Republicans and encourage Democrats. That may backfire. Republicans are feeling a new sense of urgency while Democrats may think Obama can win without them bothering to vote. The Democrats have some constituencies that must be forced to the polls with cattle prods.
The lib media has been doing this since Carter. They think that by lying a bout their polls and showing the democrat doing well, that more people will want to vote with the winner.
They had Carter close with Reagan when in fact, it was not close. They had Mondale closing with Reagan when in fact he was not. In 1988 they had that clown Dukakis in MA with a 17 point lead over Bush, when in reality he was not. In the 90's, polls showed Clinton with a 8 to 15 point lead on Dole, when in fact, he never did. They had Kerry close with Bush in 2004, when the fact was, he was never that close.