Mitt Romney holds a 4-point lead over President Barack Obama in North Carolina, according to a new poll released Monday.
The latest survey from Elon University, commissioned by the Charlotte News Observer and the News & Observer of Raleigh, shows Romney leading Obama among likely Tar Heel State voters, 47 percent to 43 percent. While Romney’s advantage isn’t huge, it’s a divergence from a different survey conducted by Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling (PPP) and released late Sunday night, which showed a dead heat between Obama and Romney in North Carolina.
Obama made history four years when he became the first Democrat since Jimmy Carter in 1976 to carry North Carolina, which has emerged as a crucial battleground in 2012 as well. Democrats signaled their intentions to keep North Carolina “blue” with the decision to host the party’s convention in Charolotte. The PollTracker Average currently shows the presidential race in the state to be a toss-up, with Romney barely edging Obama, 47.1 percent to 45.7 percent. Elon conducted its poll August 25-30 using live telephone interviews with 1,030 likely voters. The poll has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
