By OCHEREOME NNANNA, Reporting From New York City
The U.S. presidential race remains a dead heat five days to Election Day but most Americans think President Barack Obama will defeat Republican Mitt Romney, according to a Reuters/Ipsos daily tracking poll released on Tuesday.
Obama leads Romney among likely voters by 47 percent to 46 percent, a statistically insignificant margin, the online survey found. Neither candidate has held a clear lead since early October.
But 53 percent of all registered voters predicted Obama would win the November 6 election, while only 29 percent said Romney would be the victor. A majority also said that they expected Obama to win their state.A new New York Times/CBS News poll indicates that Obama and Romney are headed for one of the tightest and most unpredictable presidential poll finishes of all time. It indicates Obama has 48% and Romney 47%. But another poll, this time by ABC News/Washington Post tracking poll gives it to Romney 48% and Obama 47%.
Most political pundits insist that in the light of this tightness, the so-called "swing states" (states that are not conclusively for either candidates) such as Colorado, Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and Oregon, would need close monitoring, as justified by last-minute campaign stampede efforts by both camps in these states.
These were the latest polls for the Swing States published on Tuesday, October 30th 2012:
Colorado: Obama, 48%; Romney 45% (Project New America)
Florida: Romney, 48%; Obama 47% (Newsmax/Zogby)
Florida: Obama, 47%; Romney 47% (Survey USA)
North Carolina: Romney 50%; Obama 45% (Survey USA)
Ohio: Obama, 50%; Romney (Newsmax/Zogby)
Ohio: Obama 49%; Romney 46% (Survey USA)
Ohio: Obama 48%; Romney 45% (Project New America)
Virginia: Obama, 48%; Romney 47% (Newsmax/Zogby
Oregon: Obama, 47%, Romney 41% (Elway).
*Blogger, Taegan Goddard's Political Wire summarises the emerging trend and observes as follows:
"Greg Sergent ran through the latest polling averages and finds President Obama leading in Ohio, Wisconsin, Nevada and Iowa, while Mitt Romney leads in Virginia, North Carolina and Florida. The race is essentially tied in Colorado and New Hampshire.
"For the sake of argument, let us give the tied states to Romney. Here's the basic state of things: if you give Romney all the states where he is leading or tied in the averages – Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, Colorado and New Hampshire, he is still short of 270 (electoral votes). Meanwhile if you give Obama just the states where he leads in the averages he wins re-election".
