Obama, Romney race may be very close: polls

Washington: A presidential race between incumbent Barack Obama and leading Republican candidate Mitt Romney would end up in a very tight finish, two different polls have said. A CNN/ORC International Poll said Obama, who is seeking re-election, and Romney, the former Governor of Massachusetts, are statistically tied in a hypothetical general election matchup. In the poll, Obama shows signs of weakness on the economy, while Romney is seen by some as out of touch with ordinary Americans, it said. [caption id=“attachment_184646” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“A presidential race between incumbent Barack Obama and leading Republican candidate Mitt Romney would end up in a very tight finish, two different polls have said. Brian Snyder/Reuters”]  [/caption] Obama is also virtually tied with Ron Paul, another Republican presidential contender, but has a solid lead over Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich in hypothetical head-to-head matchups. Santorum and Gingrich are the other two Republican presidential aspirants. The CNN/ORC International poll said that more respondents think Romney is better suited to get the economy back on track than Obama, 53 percent to 40 percent. The poll was conducted on 11-12 January after Romney won the New Hampshire primary. In another poll, Fox News said that in a potential Obama-Romney election, 46 percent of voters would back Obama and 45 percent Romney if the election were held today. Obama’s narrow advantage is well within the poll’s three percentage-point margin of sampling error, the news agency said. All in all, 51 percent of voters have a favourable opinion of Obama and 46 percent unfavorable. For Romney, 45 percent view him favorably and 38 percent unfavorably, it said. The CNN said Obama’s approval rating was largely unchanged since mid-December, with 47 percent now approving of how Obama is handling his job, compared with 49 percent a month ago. “Currently 45 percent of voters approve and 47 percent disapprove of the job President Obama is doing. That’s little changed from December when 44 percent approved and 51 percent disapproved,” Fox News said. PTI