Presidential Polls 2012: Obama, Romney Still Close In Swing States Florida, Ohio, Virginia
Leading up to the second presidential debate of the 2012 election season, the candidates in the race for the White House are still neck and neck.
Republican Mitt Romney has a slight upper hand nationally, according to a national Rasmussen poll that pegs Romney with 49 percent of the vote and President Barack Obama with 47 percent. Two percent of respondents preferred a different candidate, while the final two percent are undecided.
Romney is still enjoying the boost in the polls he received from his standout performance in the first presidential debate on Oct. 3. The former governor of Massachusetts has been ahead of Obama or tied with him for 10 of the last 11 days. Before the debate, Obama enjoyed the lead in the polls for 16 days consecutively.
But in key battleground states like Virginia, Florida and Ohio, the race is tighter than ever.
In Virginia, Rasmussen polls show Romney at 49 percent while Obama sits at 47 percent. That poll surveyed 750 likely voters in Virginia on Oct. 11. Virginia offers 13 electoral votes in the election.
Romney is also ahead in Florida, where the Republican nominee's 51 percent puts him ahead of Obama's 47 percent, the Rasmussen poll shows. Florida will add 29 electoral votes to the tally of whichever candidate takes the victory in that state on election night Nov. 6.
But Obama still has a lead in Ohio. There, the president is at 48 percent, just one point ahead of Romney's 47 percent, according to polling data from Rasmussen. The winner in Ohio will carry that state's 18 electoral votes on election night.
In an analysis of all national polls, Real Clear Politics' average of the data gives Romney a slight lead countrywide, but only by 0.6 points.
The polls are likely to be effected by each candidate's performance in the second presidential debate, scheduled for Tuesday evening.
