Washington: Barack Obama has edged ahead of Mitt Romney in the final days
of the presidential campaign. In the Pew Research Center’s election weekend
survey, Obama holds a 48% to 45% lead over Romney among likely voters.
The survey finds that Obama maintains his modest lead when
the probable decisions of undecided voters are taken into account. Pew’s final
estimate of the national popular vote is Obama 50% and Romney 47%, when the
undecided vote is allocated between the two candidates based on several
indicators and opinions.
A week ago the race was deadlocked, with each candidate
drawing support from 47% of the likely electorate. Interviewing for the final
pre-election survey was conducted Oct. 31- Nov. 3 among 2,709 likely voters.
The previous survey was conducted Oct. 24-28, before Hurricane Sandy made
landfall along the East Coast.
Obama’s handling of the storm’s aftermath may have
contributed to his improved showing. Fully 69% of all likely voters approve of
the way Obama is handling the storm’s impact. Even a plurality of Romney
supporters (46%) approve of Obama’s handling of the situation; more important,
so too do 63% of swing voters.
Voter turnout, which may be lower than in 2008 and 2004,
remains one of Romney’s strengths. Romney’s supporters continue to be more
engaged in the election and interested in election news than Obama supporters,
and are more committed to voting.
The survey also indicates that voters in the nine
battleground states are as closely divided as the national electorate: 49% of
likely voters in battleground states support Obama while 47% back Romney.