The 2012 presidential election is just three days away, and as the campaign winds down all eyes have turned to projections for how the Electoral College map will play out on Election Day.

Republican nominee Mitt Romney has the advantage in many nationwide presidential polls, but if Electoral College forecasts are to be believed, President Barack Obama is within the margin of victory to clinch the presidency for a second term.

A candidate needs 270 or more electoral votes to win the election. The Huffington Post's Electoral College map projection, which is based on analysis of various nationwide and state by state polls, shows that a total of 277 electoral votes are leaning toward going Obama's way on Election Day — enough for him to win another four years in the White House.

CLICK HERE to check out The Huffington Post's electoral projections along with its interactive map.

Obama's GOP challenger Romney lags behind by 86 votes with a total of 191 electoral votes expected to go Republican on Nov. 6.

Obama was sitting pretty at 277 electoral votes in The Huffington Post's projection as of Monday, but by Wednesday the forecast had changed, at only 259 electoral votes were strong enough to securely call for Obama. But as of Saturday, Obama has returned to the height of his lead with 277 votes.

Another change since the beginning of the week has been the number of electoral votes that are still too close to predict whether they will go to one candidate or the other. On Monday, a total of 55 electoral votes were still in the toss-up category. That number grew to 77 by Wednesday, reached its peak of the week on Friday at 88, and as of Saturday a total of 70 electoral votes are still too close to call.

The Huffington Post's data breaks down the states and their respective electoral votes as follows:

-Strong Obama: 217 electoral votes

-Leans Obama: 60 electoral votes

-Toss Up: 70 electoral votes

-Leans Romney: 0 electoral votes

-Strong Romney: 191 electoral votes

Tags
Barack Obama, Mitt romney, Presidential election 2012