President Obama leads the first edition of the ABC News/Washington Post tracking poll of the presidential race nationally by a point. Obama gets 49 percent to Republican candidate Mitt Romney’s 48 percent in the poll, conducted Oct. 18-21. ABC/WaPo’s previous poll showed Obama up 3 points amongst likely voters, 49 percent to 46 percent.
“Mitt Romney carries newfound competitiveness in trust to handle international issues into the final presidential debate, combined with his highest personal popularity of the 2012 campaign,” ABC pollster Gary Langer wrote in his analysis. “But continued weakness in his perceived economic priorities is keeping the race a close one.”
