Polls Show Romney Gaining Ground on Obama

With just four months to go before the election two new polls show the race for the White House between President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney is essentially deadlocked. A new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows the race tied at 47 percent while The Washington Times/JZ Analytics poll found the former Massachusetts governor leading 43 to 42 percent.

Both polls noted the numbers are essentially unchanged since May.

“The new numbers reflect a stubborn constancy: Only twice in 13 surveys over more than a year has either candidate held a lead exceeding the poll’s margin of sampling error,” the Post wrote. “Now, the campaign appears destined to remain extremely close in the final four months before Election Day.”

The Washington Times notes that their poll showed about the same margin as the poll in May, but Obama “slipped on several key measures, including fewer voters who say they expect him to win, and fewer who say they are voting for him because he’s the best candidate.

“Voters, who by a small margin say they agree with the Supreme Court’s ruling upholding health care, still seem in a mood to punish Mr. Obama for it — particularly among independents. The poll found 45 percent of self-identified independents said they are less likely to support the president now after the ruling, compared with 20 percent who said the ruling made them more likely to back him.”

Pollster John Zogby, who conducted the Times survey, told the paper that Obama had been moving up in polling last month, but the healthcare ruling appears to have stopped that.

However, the Post poll found a “significant change” in the public’s view of Obamacare following the Supreme Court ruling. Some 47 percent now support the law and 47 percent oppose it. In April, 39 percent supported it and 53 percent opposed it.

Obama’s supports continue to be more enthusiastic than Romney, though at diminished numbers. In the Post poll, 51 percent, of his supporters back his candidacy “very enthusiastically,” compared with 38 percent of Romney’s.

In the Post poll, 54 percent of all adults and 60 percent of independents give Obama negative marks on the economy but when measured against Romney, voters again split. Some 48 percent said they trust Romney on the economy while 45 percent choose the president.

The Obama campaign has been hammering Romney in ads lately for his business background and they seem to have had an effect. In eight battleground states, the Post poll found that more people now say Romney did more to cut jobs than create them when he worked as an investor.

The Post poll surveyed 1,003 adults, including 855 registered voters, July 5 to 8. The Times surveyed 800 likely voters July 6 through 8.