Presidential Polls Virginia: Romney Still Ahead Six Days Before Election
After months of campaigning, President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney will finally leave the campaigning behind in just six days. And as the 2012 election comes to a close, a handful of important swing states that could ultimately decided the outcome of the election are taking the spotlight.
According to The Huffington Post's Electoral College map projection, which is based on an analysis of various nationwide and state by state polling data, the five states still in the toss up pile as of Wednesday are Colorado, Florida, New Hampshire, Ohio and Virginia.
Those states represent a total of 73 electoral votes - a hefty sum considering each candidate needs a total of 270 electoral votes to successfully win the election. Those votes would be incredibly valuable to either candidate, based on The Huffington Post's current projection, which has President Barack Obama at 259 electoral votes and Mitt Romney at 206 votes.
A total of nine electoral votes are up for grabs in Virginia to whichever candidate can carry the state on Election Day next week.
According to The Huffington Post's data analysis, Romney is ahead in Virginia by just a hair. The GOP nominee is polling at 48 percent in that state, while the incumbent is behind by only one percentage point at 47 percent.
The latest data from national polling firm Rasmussen echoes Romney's lead.
In that poll, the Republican has support from 50 percent of Virginian voters surveyed, while Obama lags behind him by two percentage points at 48 percent. Of the remaining respondents included in the poll, only 1 percent is still undecided about how they will cast their votes on Nov. 6.
Rasmussen's data also uncovered information about how Virginian voters view the candidates on specific hot-button issues.
"Virginia voters trust Romney more than the president by a 51 percent to 46 percent margin when it comes to handling the economy," the report said. "This is unchanged from a week ago. When it comes to national security and energy policy, it's a near tie, with Romney posting a one-point edge over Obama in terms of voter trust on both issues."
