Presidential Polls 2012: Romney Leads Obama By Small Margin
In many respects, the 2012 presidential election is still too close to call, but Mitt Romney is ahead by just a hair in several national polls.
According to Real Clear Politics' average of all nationwide polls conducted about the presidential election, Romney is ahead by 0.9 percentage points. The poll puts the GOp nominee at 48 percent, while President Barack Obama hangs close behind with 47.1 percent.
Obama and his Republican challenger have hovered near a tie for the last few days of the race, and Romney's edge, though he does have one, is in many cases within the margin of error of the polls whose data put him ahead.
For example, a poll conducted by Politico/GWU/Battleground shows Romney at 49 percent and Obama at 47 percent, giving Romney a 2 point advantage over the president. But because that poll's margin of error is 3.1 points, Romney's lead may not be as large as it seems.
The former Massachusetts governor is also ahead by a considerable spread in the most recent Rasmussen poll. According to the Rasmussen's daily update on Tuesday, Romney has support from 50 percent of the voters surveyed, giving him a 4 point lead over Obama, who has support from 46 percent. Of the remaining respondents, 1 percent support a different candidate and 2 percent are undecided.
Romney's large spread in that poll is significant because the race has not widened up that much for many weeks, according to an analysis by Rasmussen.
"Other than brief convention bounces, this is the first time either candidate has led by more than three points in months," the Rasmussen tracking report said.
But no matter which candidate voters support, there is a poll out there to claim that person is winning. Romney is ahead in polls from Gallup, ABC News/Washington Post and Monmouth/SurveyUSA/Braun, while Obama has the lead in polls conducted by CBS News, Washington Times/JZ Analytics and IBD/TIPP.
