Polls

Gallup: Romney extends lead over Obama to 5 points

by Jonathan Easley - 10/29/12 6:27 PM ET

Mitt Romney gained a point over President Obama, according to a Gallup daily tracking poll released Monday, and now holds a healthy 5-percentage-point national lead.

{mosads}Romney took 51 percent support in the poll of likely voters, compared to 46 percent for Obama.

The GOP nominee also pulled even with Obama among registered voters, 48 percent to 48, after trailing by a point on Sunday.

The survey is a rolling seven-day average through Oct. 28, so it has almost fully digested voter sentiment since last Monday’s third and final presidential debate.

Gallup’s poll has received a lot of attention, as Romney’s lead among likely voters had been outsize in comparison to other polls. For nine out of the last 12 days now, Romney has led Obama by between 5 and 7 points in the poll.

Most other national polls reflect a considerably closer race. According to a Pew Research survey released on Monday, the candidates are tied at 47 percent. An ABC News-Washington Post poll released over the weekend shows Romney ahead by 1 percentage point, while an IBD-TIPP poll shows the president up by 1 point.

According to the RealClearPolitics average of polls, Romney leads nationally by less than 1 point, 47.6 to 46.7 percent.

The race is just as close in the handful of battleground states that will be critical in determining the outcome.

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On Monday, an American Research Group poll showed Romney ahead 48 to 47 percent in Colorado, a Rasmussen survey showed him ahead 50 to 48 percent in Ohio and a CNN-ORC poll showed him ahead 50 to 49 percent in Florida. An Elon University poll showed the candidates tied at 45 percent in North Carolina.

Gallup announced on Monday it would suspend its daily tracking survey until Tuesday because of Hurricane Sandy, meaning it will not poll voters on Monday.

The Gallup survey has a 2-percentage-point margin of error.

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