President Barack Obama leads Mitt Romney by 5 points among registered voters and boasts an approval rating above 50 percent, according to Monday’s daily tracking numbers from Gallup.
In the head-to-head, Obama outpaces Romney, 50 percent to 45 percent. But that 5-point margin is based on responses gathered during the tracking period of Oct. 1-7, which means that it was partially conducted before the Oct. 3 debate and partially after Friday’s jobs report.
Obama’s approval rating may serve as a fresher indicator of the state of the race. Using a 3-day rolling average, the latest approval rating from Gallup is based on the tracking period of Oct. 5-7, which encompasses the aftermath of the first debate and the two days that immeidately followed the jobs report. Fifty-one percent of American adults surveyed in Monday’s release approve of the president’s job performance, compared with 44 percent who disapprove.
