President Barack Obama holds a 3-point lead over Mitt Romney among likely voters nationwide, according to a new poll from CBS News and the New York Times.
The poll shows Obama leading Romney nationally, 49 percent to 46 percent, despite the fact that the Republican nominee holds solid leads among both men and independents.
But Obama benefits from support among his key coalitions. The president holds leads of 12 points among women, 8 points among 18-29 year olds and 21 points among voters earning less than $50,000 a year. Friday’s release represents the first time the CBS/NYT poll included a sample of likely voters in this election cycle. The previous CBS/NYT poll — conducted in mid-July — showed Romney leading Obama by 1 among registered voters, while Friday’s poll shows the president leading by 7 points among registered voters.
Although the 3-point edge is narrower than what has been shown in other post-convention national surveys, the CBS/NYT poll shows Obama hovering near the 50 percent threshold — a trend that has emerged following last week’s Democratic National Convention. The president reached the 50 percent mark in a CNN poll released earlier this week, as well as in Gallup’s daily tracking poll on Tuesday. Obama is also closing in on 50 percent in the PollTracker Average, which currently shows Obama leading Romney by 4.5 points. The full contents of the CBS/NYT poll will be released at 6:30 p.m.
