President Barack Obama leads in Wisconsin and Virginia, while Mitt Romney claims an edge in Colorado, according to a trio of new polls released Wednesday.
The latest installment of the Quinnipiac/New York Times/CBS News swing state surveys serves as a litmus test of well each campaign’s strategies are being received in the three battlegrounds. Obama leads by 6-points among voters in Wisconsin, polling at 51 percent to Romney’s 45 percent. Romney, however, reaches the 50 percent threshold in Colorado, where he leads Obama by 5 points. In Virginia — perhaps the biggest prize of the three states — Obama leads by 4 points, 49 percent to 45 percent.
The innaugural Quinnipiac/NYT/CBS polls last week in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania showed the president leading in all three states. While both sets of surveys show that the majority of voters have made up their minds, there is evidence to suggest that the respective messages of each campaign have made inroads. Romney, for example, has cut into Obama’s once-sizable advantage among women in Colorado. Conversely, the Obama campaign’s attacks against Romney’s refusal to release more tax returns appear to be resonating: roughly half of voters in Wisconsin, Virginia and Colorado believe the presutmpive Republican nominee should release several years of tax returns.
The PollTracker Average currently shows Obama with negligble leads over Romney in Virginia (47.5 percent to 44.7 percent) and Colorado (47 percent to 46.8 percent), but a wider lead in Wisconsin (50.8 percent to 45 percent).
