New poll puts Obama-Romney neck and neck ahead of debate

Washington: Ahead of the first of the three presidential debates this month, a series of latest opinion poll has revealed that it is a virtual tie between Barack Obama, the incumbent and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney. The results of the opinion poll comes less than 50 hours before the crucial first of the three presidential debates between Obama and Romney. The performance of Obama and Romney during these debates is expected to play a significant role in determining the final winner to the 6 November presidential elections. [caption id=“attachment_476281” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Mitt Romney and Barack Obama.[/caption] Fifty-per cent of likely voters questioned in the CNN survey, which was released on Monday, say that if the election were held today they would vote for Obama and 47 per cent said they would support Romney, the former Massachusetts governor. The President’s three point margin is within the poll’s sampling error of CNN / ORC International Poll. The CNN / ORC poll comes in the heel of a few other similar polls which have also indicated the same. According to ABC News / Washington Post poll, Obama has a support of 49 per cent as against Romney’s 47 per cent. Politico/ GWU and Battleground also reports the same results. While results of Rasmussen Tracking matches that of CNN/ORC poll, in the Gallup Polling, gap between Obama and Romney is by four points. “That’s a strong suggestion that whatever bounce President Obama received from his convention has, as expected, faded away,” says CNN polling director Keating Holland. CNN said when it comes to issues, the survey indicates that Obama and Romney are effectively tied when likely voters are asked which candidate would best handle the economy. Romney, however, appears to have an edge on the top two economic issues: unemployment and the budget deficit. Obama, by contrast, has the advantage on a variety of non-economic domestic issues such as education, medicare and health care and also polls strongly on taxes, traditionally a GOP issue, CNN said. All of these issues will most likely be debated by the candidates on Wednesday night. PTI