Surveys suggest US presidential polls to be a close contest

The battle between Barack Obama and Mitt is going to be a closely-fought affair, if the latest opinion polls are any indication.

Washington: The November 6 US presidential elections, for which both incumbent Barack Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney are leaving nothing to chance, are going to be a closely-fought affair, if the latest opinion polls are any indication. The presidential race is almost down to the wire, with the two candidates making final pitches to the key battle ground States in the last few days of the highly competitive polls. While RealClearPolitics`s closely watched average of national polls suggested yesterday that Obama was leading by a slim 0.1 percentage of votes, ABC News/Washington Poll had Romney`s lead of one point. As per Rasmussen`s assessment, the race is a virtual tie. With this, the two campaigns are now focusing on some of the key battleground states, where a win will fetch them the necessary Electoral College votes. Obama yesterday addressed three meetings in Ohio, where his opponent Romney also spent his time holding two meetings in Ohio, which has 18 Electoral College votes. The CNN releasing its latest poll said that the presidential election in the battleground State of Ohio remains very close, and Obama holds a three point advantage over Romney, which is within the survey`s sampling error. According to a Reuters-Ipsos poll, Obama has a small lead, 47 per cent to 45 over Romney in Ohio, while the Rasmussen survey showed the President into a tie with his Republican challenger at 49 per cent. With this all the polls show Obama ahead of Romney in Ohio. Romney is in lead in Florida and North Carolina, polls show, but remains very close. The two candidates are in virtual tie, according to polls in four other battle ground states of Virginia, Iowa, Colorado and New Hampshire. The Washington Post said that most likely, voters see the country as seriously offtrack -- barely half say the president is doing a good job -- and the Romney`s supporters rival those with Obama when it comes to being "fired up", making for a precarious situation for President Obama as the polls near. Evaluating the series of recent polls, The New York Times said there is not much evidence of "momentum" toward Romney. Instead, the case that the polls have moved slightly toward Obama is stronger, it said. "In 9 of the 11 battleground states, Obama`s polls have been better over the past 10 days than they were immediately after the Denver debate. The same is true for the national polls, whether or not tracking polls (which otherwise dominate the average) are included," the daily reported. PTI