A new POLITICO/George Washington University Battleground Tracking Poll of 1,000 likely voters, across ten states Politico identifies as competitive, shows Mitt Romney taking the lead over Obama by 49 to 47 percent. Those states are Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin.
Ed Morrissey at Hot Air broke it down:
Two keys suggest Romney’s doing better than his toplines. First, he’s winning the gender gap. Romney gets a +10 among men, while Obama gets a +8 among women, for a +2 advantage for Romney. In 2008, Obama had a +14 gender gap advantage over John McCain. Obama wins single women, but is getting clobbered among married women, 42/55. Romney’s also leading among women without children overall, 50/46, suggesting that women who already know how to access birth control aren’t terribly concerned about it as an election issue.
The second key is age demographics. Obama has a 30-point lead among voters 34 years and younger, but that’s his only win. He and Romney tie among 35-44YOs at 48 each, but Romney has double digit leads among 45-64YOs (54/44) and seniors (58/38). Those last two demographics are the most likely to vote in the election.
As I have pointed out before, every poll that asks about priorities has seen the economy and/or jobs as the most important issue among men and women, taking that spot by a 30 to 40 point margin over secondary issues.
Which makes the fiscal issues and who scores higher, very important for the upcoming presidential election just two week away.
The Battleground poll shows that on the economy, Romney's lead is even higher:
Romney also doubled the size of his advantage over Obama on which candidate would better handle the economy. This week, 51 percent of respondents picked Romney and 45 percent chose Obama, compared to 50 percent for Romney and 47 percent for Obama a week ago. The former Massachusetts governor also leads by 4 points, 50 to 46 percent, on who will create more jobs.
Also, Romney widened his lead to 15 points on which candidate would better handle the federal budget and spending, up from 12 points a week ago.
As was reported yesterday, Gallup has shown Romney with a six and seven point lead among likely voters for five straight days in a row. Three days with a six point lead and two with a seven point lead. Today's daily tracking poll will be released in a little less than an hour.
[Update] Make that six straight days now of six and seven point leads for Romney over Obama with Gallup's release. Six today.
