President Barack Obama holds a 3-point lead over Mitt Romney nationally, according to a new poll out Monday.
The latest Politico/George Washington University poll shows the presidential race almost exactly as it has been for months: Obama claiming a narrow but consistent lead, while Romney lags with low personal popularity. In the poll, Obama leads Romney among likely voters, 50 percent to 47 percent — slightly larger than the 1-point lead he held over the Republican nominee in the previous Politico/GWU poll in early August and within the latest poll’s 3.1 percent margin of error.
Romney’s favorability rating has slipped under water since August, when 46 percent of likely voters viewed the Republican nominee favorably and 46 percent viewed him unfavorably. Today, 46 percent of voters still have a favorable view of Romney, but the number of voters who view him unfavorably has ticked up to 49 percent.
Obama’s favorability rating has improved from 50 percent a month ago to 53 percent in the latest poll, compared with 45 percent who view the president unfavorably (down 2 points from August). And the president barely leads Romney on the question of who is best-suited to preside over the economy, 49 percent to 48 percent. The former Massachusetts governor led by 5 points on that same question last month.
The PollTracker Average currently shows Obama holding a 2.5-point lead over Romney, an advantage that has dipped since the period immediately following the Democratic National Convention.
