Poll: Obama's lead in Ohio narrows

Early voting and enthusiasm

Early or absentee voting has already begun in most states across the country. One in five Ohio likely voters in this poll say they have already cast their ballot, and the president leads Romney among this group 54 to 39 percent. Among likely voters who have yet to cast their ballot, the race is much closer: the president leads 49 to 47 percent.

As has been the case throughout this election campaign, Ohio Republicans continue to be more enthusiastic than Democrats about voting this year. Fifty-two percent of Ohio Republicans say they're more enthusiastic compared to 40 percent of Democrats. Enthusiasm among both Republicans and Democrats has increased since last month, but Republicans still have the advantage.

In addition, Romney's supporters in Ohio are now more strongly behind him. 63 percent strongly favor him now, up from 51 percent last month. But the president still has the advantage on this: 74 percent of his voters strongly back him.

The Debates

The two presidential candidates met for a second debate last week, and Ohio likely voters think Mr. Obama came out the winner. Forty-eight percent thought the president won the debate, 27 percent thought Romney won and 12 percent said it was a tie. Partisanship plays a role here: Most Democrats think Mr. Obama won the debate, while most Republicans say Romney was the winner. Independents choose Mr. Obama as the winner, 43 to 29 percent.

• Poll: Obama edges Romney in second debate
• Full coverage: The Debates

Still, most Ohio voters (more than six in 10) say the second debate will not impact their vote choice. Among those who say it will, 19 percent say it makes them more likely to vote for Mr. Obama, while 14 percent say it makes them more likely to vote for Romney.

Heading into the final debate tonight, 40 percent of Ohio voters expect Mr. Obama to win that debate, while 31 percent think Romney will be the winner.

The Economy

Voters in Ohio are more optimistic now about both the national and state economies than they were in the summer. Now, 37 percent of Ohio voters think the nation's economy is getting better - up from 26 percent at the beginning of August - while 46 percent believe Ohio's economy is improving - up from 33 percent.

For full poll results, see next page

This poll was conducted by telephone from Quinnipiac University's interviewing facility October 17-20, 2012. The number of Ohio likely voters interviewed is 1,548. Phone numbers were dialed from samples of both standard land-line and cell phones. The error due to sampling for results based on the sample could be plus or minus three percentage points. The error for subgroups may be higher. This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

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[WindyCityGardener]

Shouldn't this be against the law ? Time Magazine has a poll out for Ohio. The poll is weighted 9% for Obama. In the poll they say Obama is winning independents 53 % to Romney's 38%. But if you go to the real poll. The numbers for Independents are Romney 55% and Obama 32%. Now they are just lying about their own polls. They continue to say the poll is not weighted. But it clearly is. 273 Democrats and 206 Republicans.

[WindyCityGardener]

Shouldn't this be against the law ? Time Magazine has a poll out for Ohio. The poll is weighted 9% for Obama. In the poll they say Obama is winning independents 53 % to Romney's 38%. But if you go to the real poll. The numbers for Independents are Romney 55% and Obama 32%. Now they are just lying about their own polls. They continue to say the poll is not weighted. But it clearly is. 273 Democrats and 206 Republicans.

[Faramir0028g]

peter_out do ur slow self a favor get a clue and a better handle
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

00000000 BBBBBBBB AAAAA MMMMM AAAAA
20 12
put ur peter back were it belongs what a chump

[Meritous]

Another pull with a plus 9 Democrat turnout model, higher than even the 2010 election. Retards.

[catsaresmarter11]

where does it say that?

[swanman823]

Like all the slanted liberal polls, this poll oversamples Dems. Romney is going to win Ohio and going to win the election. Over, Done, take it to the bank. Liberals better stock up on your meds for election night, you are going to need the.

I would also encourage everyone interested in the truth to Google: Let Detroit Go Bankrupt by Mitt Romney. Read the article, the title was by the New York Times, not Romney. Read it, his plan would have been more fair to all and resulted in a more competetive auto industry today. He said Government should give guarantees and back warranties. Just a capitalist approach instead of a socialist approach.

[Ablative_Absolute]

As a long time resident of Ohio, I can say with confidence that ROMNEY WILL LOSE IN OHIO. We realized this when Romney stated (not so long ago), "Let Detroit go Bankrupt!" Of course he tries desperately to back-pedal on this now, but it isn't working. And it wasn't so long ago that Romney proclaimed his repugnant remarks about "The 47 Percent." We have not forgotten that either.

We have not forgotten all of the many issues that Romney has "flip-flopped" on. He will simply say "whatever" it takes, depending on who his audience is at the time. Romney will lose in November.

[peter_out]

The President has "Bamnesia". The President did not save the auto industry. What he did do is spend a lot of other people's money to perpetuate poorly run corporations and when GM, for instance, paid back their loans in the form of unsaleable assets, and stocks worth half of what the President accepted as pay back value, the President touted himself as a winner.

Under Romney's bankrupsy scheme, GM and others would have been re-structured, debts settled, and $10 million bonus payments to failed executives and consultants would have been avoided. Viable cars would still be coming out the doors of the factories, and employees would still be on the line. The many Billions of dollars Obama used for the bailouts would not have been borrowed from China.

[peter_out]

And another thing. Obama's campaign bus is Canadian.

[TimeToEvolve]

Robbed Me's official strategy to "run" for pResident is to lie to the American people. And a bunch of idiot Americans who miss Bush Cheney don't care. LOL.

[bkeating51]

In the 1980 election between President Carter and Ronald Reagan, all the major polls concluded in the three weeks right up to the election that it was too close to call.

Ronald Reagan beat Carter by 10 per cent on the night of the election.

That is all you really have to know about the value of these polls. Don't waste your time.

[cologirl55]

This is probably a waste of space since clearly this is where all the Liberal trolls are. Facts are facts-no matter how much the Liberal trolls try to spin them their way. FACT 1= Obama LIED when he promised to lower the unemployment rate to 5.4% his first 2 years. It never happened! FACT 2=While Obama claims ADDING 5 million jobs-we lost roughly 4.316 million jobs during his FIRST 13 months (siting MONEY.CNN.com 8/2012)in office. We continued to lose jobs for months and months AFTER that, so once again-Obama LIED. FACT 3=Obama has been proven to have LIED about the knowledge concerning Libya Terror Attack (the comment in the Rose Garden-read the transcript!-was in observance of the 9/11 attack). So if all these FACTS about Obama's Lies are looked at. WHY would anyone TRUST him to change things or do things differently the next 4 years? NOT!! Go Romney/Ryan 2012!

[TimeToEvolve]

Miss more wars and paying for the tax cuts for the rich huh? We need more of our young people dying for lies, I agree. Bush Cheney 2012!!!

[TimeToEvolve]

FaelanMac replies:
Disastrous? Only a Liberal with a very short memory span would call 5% unemployment and world peace....disastrous.

Are you talking about when Clinton was president? Or are you talking about the disaster of the Bush Cheney Crime Family who started two wars for oil and got unemployment up to 10% by the time Obama turned it around?