As Republicans and Democrats descend on Florida and North Carolina over the next two weeks for their respective conventions, a new poll released Monday shows a tight presidential race in both battlegrounds.
In a new CNN/Time poll, available exclusively on the CNN/Time Convention Floor Pass app, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden top Mitt Romney and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) among likely voters in Florida, 50 percent to 46 percent. Obama and Biden have a 12-point lead among Florida women and a 41-point advantage among “non-white” voters in the Sunshine State.
Romney and Ryan, meanwhile, lead by 4 points among men and hold an 18-point advantage among white voters. Among voters 65 years and older –Â a bloc drawing increased attention, particularly in Florida, due to the campaign’s recent focus on Medicare — the GOP ticket leads by 6 points, 51 percent to 45 percent.
The PollTracker Average shows Florida in toss-up territory, with Obama clinging to a 1.1-point lead.
In North Carolina, where Democrats will gather beginning next week at their party’s convention in Charlotte, Romney and Ryan lead by 1-point among likely voters, 48 percent to 47 percent. The poll shows a stark racial divide there. The Republicans hold a massive lead among white voters, 63 percent to 33 percent, but Obama and Biden’s lead among non-white voters is even greater: 84 percent to 9 percent.
The PollTracker Average also shows a toss-up in North Carolina, where Romney and Ryan narrowly lead, 48.5 percent to 46.8 percent.
Monday’s polls illustrate a source of concern for the Obama campaign: a drop-off in support from registered voters to likely voters. Among registered voters, Obama and Biden lead by 9 points in Florida and by 2 points in North Carolina. In CNN’s national poll released last week, Obama’s lead over Romney dipped from 9 points among registered voters nationwide to 2 points among likely voters.
The CNN/Time poll was conducted Aug. 22-26 using live telephone interviews with 776 likely voters in Florida and 766 likely voters in North Carolina. Each sample has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.