A new poll released Wednesday shows President Barack Obama holding a solid 11-point lead in New Mexico, undermining a recent claim by Mitt Romney’s campaign that the presidential race is tightening there.
Conducted by Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling (PPP) on behalf of the League of Conservation Voters (LCV), the poll shows Obama earning the support 53 perent of likely New Mexico voters, while Romney trails with 42 percent support. LCV has endorsed Obama in the 2012 election.
Neil Newhouse, a pollster for the Romney campaign, released a defensive memo earlier this week in an effort to rebut the notion that Obama has begun to pull away from his Republican challenger.
In the memo, Newhouse cited a recent poll that was commissioned by the Albuquerque Journal, which showed Obama holding a 5-point edge over Romney in New Mexico. While that poll did show a smaller lead for Obama than previous surveys, the president has still consistently held the upper-hand there and remains the clear favorite to pick up the state’s five electoral votes — as evidenced by Wednesday’s survey.
The PollTracker Average currently shows Obama leading Romney by 9 points in New Mexico, 50.3 percent to 41.3 percent.
