WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney are tied at 47 percent support each among likely voters with just over two weeks to go before the U.S. presidential election, a NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released today said.
The poll, which was announced on NBC’s Meet the Press program, also showed “a little bit of a lead” for Romney among the so-called “battleground” states as a group, NBC correspondent Chuck Todd said.
“Sitting at 47 is a good number for a challenger, but not a good number for an incumbent” close to the November 6 election, Todd said.
Obama’s lead among women – 51 percent to 43 percent – was his smallest all year long in polling during his re-election attempt, Todd said.
Romney has been closing in on Obama in recent weeks, with several surveys showing the pair tied or close to it, as Americans remain split between giving Obama more time to fix the economy, or choosing a former business executive who argues he knows best how to create jobs.
The poll was conducted Oct. 17-20, after last week’s presidential debate, and has a margin of error of plus-minus 3.43 percentage points for the sample of likely voters.
