By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

America's "swing" voters are turning to support Barack Obama at a faster clip than to John McCain, according to the latest Gallup Poll. Overall, Obama still leads McCain by a 49-43 margin.

But the big news is that support for the Democratic nominee is firming up.

Gallup says the registered voters saying they "are certain to vote for Obama" went up 6 percentage points -- from 36 percent before the Democratic convention to 42 percent after it.

McCain's "certain" vote has moved up, too, but by only 3 percentage points -- from 34 percent to 37 percent. The stunning selection of national police novice Sarah Palin was figured into that equation.

One caveat: The GOP convention doesn't end until Thursday night, when McCain will give his acceptance speech, one much less-hyped than the one given by Obama at Invesco Field last week.

Still, McCain could see bump upward in his figures in the coming day or two.