If you’ve been following the daily trackers, you’ll know that Gallup has been showing an upward trend for Barack Obama. He now leads, their poll claims, by 5 points (49-44) — just one point shy of his all-time high. Bad news for McCain, right?

Possibly, but there’s something odd going on there.

Take Rasmussen Reports, for example. It’s the third most reliable pollster (Gallup’s the 25th) and continues to show McCain and Obama tied at 48%. That’s down from McCain three-point lead a few days ago, granted, but has shown the race evening out — not Obama leading.

Rasmussen isn’t the only poll showing that, either. In fact, Hotline had McCain trailing by 4 a few days ago. He’s now within one(PDF) of Obama. Again, that shows an entirely different trend than Gallup.

What does this tell us? There’s no real consensus on who’s gaining or even who’s winning. The race is simply too close to call.