Such jumps in presidential popular support, called rally effects, are typically short-lived.
This is particularly true when the model does not fully anticipate sharp increases in approval, like the rally effects at the outset of the gulf war, after Sept. 11, etc.
Not even sport has quite the rallying effect.
General Sanchez told a news conference today that it was "too early" to determine if a taped message from Mr. Hussein was having a rallying effect.
He said he recognized the rallying effect of sweeping emissions reduction proclamations but that he was concerned that they often are no more than lip service.
The vote was widely seen as a last chance for Greece to remain in the euro zone, and the results had an early rallying effect on world markets.
Certainly the feeling of some people that the post 9/11 press, in the words of the White House veteran David Gergen, "was way too deferential in the rally-round effect and rallying around his status as commander in chief" does not find its way into these pages.
The organizing is not aimed at any one event, rally or issue and the effect will be unpredictable.
Though the rally had no effect on the former (the college didn't divest), Occidental's minority population, which is now over forty per cent, has since quadrupled.
