With the first presidential debate only two days away, presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are virtually in a head heat with Obama leading Romney 49-47 in a Washington Post poll. While Obama does hold the advantage, it’s narrow enough to be statistically irrelevant, especially considering the fact that this poll’s results are practically unchanged from a poll commissioned at the end of both party’s conventions.
1% of voters polled were undecided with 2% preferring neither candidate over the other.
In this same poll, 55% of respondents predicted Obama would win the series of three dates. High expectations may serve to hurt the President, however, if he’s unable to meet them.
Obama leads Romney among likely voters, 49 percent to 47 percent, the poll shows. Two percent prefer neither candidate, and just 1 percent are undecided. The result is virtually unchanged from the previous ABC News/Washington Post poll, conducted immediately after the two party conventions, which showed Obama leading, 49 percent to 48 percent.
Among the broader universe of registered voters, Obama holds a 5-point advantage, 49 percent to 44 percent. That includes a 10-point lead among female voters. Men are split essentially down the middle.
Independents are divided evenly as well; among registered voters, Democrats held a 5-point party-ID advantage in the poll, but that gap narrows to just 3 percentage points among likely voters.
The Washington Post reported that Obama leads in “swing states,” 52 percent to 41 percent. The “swing states” included by Washington Post are Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
2012′s first Presidential debate, on domestic policy, will take place in Denver, Colorado Wednesday at 9:00pm EDT and will be aired on all the major networks.
