New political surveys show that President Barack Obama has a small lead
over his Republican rival Mitt Romney, as the two candidates enter the
final eight weeks of the U.S. presidential election campaign.
The Gallup and Rasmussen Reports polls Monday showed President Obama
ahead of Romney by 5 percent following last week's Democratic National
Convention.
More importantly, President Obama is leading in some key states,
including Ohio, North Carolina and Colorado.
The two candidates had been virtually tied in surveys a week ago after
the Republican National Convention.
Romney's campaign team said it is not worried about the current polls
because it is natural that a candidate gets a boost in support after his
party's convention.
Obama leads Mr. Romney 50 percent to 45 percent among likely voters in
Ohio, according to a survey released Sunday by Public Policy Polling.
The five-point lead in the midwestern state is the president's largest
in that poll since early May.
But in North Carolina, where Democrats gathered last week to nominate
the incumbent for a second term, a PPP survey Monday shows the president
just slightly ahead of his Republican challenger, 49 to 48.
Obama's re-election campaign, for the first time in several months,
narrowly raised more money in August than Romney's campaign.
Republican
presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks at the Republican National
Convention in Tampa, Florida, August 30, 2012. The candidates are
focusing their campaigning on key states where the surveys show voter
sentiment is virtually split between the two. The U.S. does not elect
its presidents by popular vote, but rather through an electoral college
system in which each state's influence on the outcome is weighted by its
population.
Obama's re-election campaign, for the first time in several months,
narrowly out-raised Romney's fundraising effort in August.
Obama's campaign manager, Jim Messina, said Sunday the campaign had
pulled in $114 million last month in conjunction with the Democratic
National Committee. Hours earlier, the Romney campaign announced it had
raised $111 million in August along with the Republican National
Committee.
Although Romney was out-raised in August, it was the third straight
month his campaign had collected more than $100 million and he has more
cash in the bank than the president, as they head to the November 6
election.
