COLUMBUS, Ohio — President Obama can see Mitt Romney closing in on almost every front — from key swing states to a new Gallup national poll that has Romney up among likely voters by 50-46 percent.
Gallup’s daily tracking poll out yesterday was the latest evidence of the Romney surge that began after the first presidential debate two weeks ago, giving the Republican a 4-point margin over his rival.
Prior to the debate, Romney’s average lead in late September and early October was just under 1 point among likely voters counted in the seven-day rolling survey by Gallup.
And Gallup found the president’s lead among women — one of his key voting blocks — eroding to 6 points. In 2008, Obama won the election with a commanding 14 percent margin among women, Gallup found.
Among men who are likely voters, Gallup showed Obama trailing by 14 points. In Obama’s race against John McCain four years ago, they split the male vote.
Even college grads seemed to be fleeing the president, with Romney leading 61-39 when likely voters were counted. In 2008, Obama won this group by a 2-point margin.
Similar news came from Pennsylvania yesterday in a Quinnipiac University poll that found Romney cutting Obama’s once-comfortable 12-point advantage in the Keystone State to just 4 points.
Obama held on to a narrow 50-46 percent lead yesterday in a survey of likely Pennsylvania voters by the nonpartisan polling institute.
The dramatic turnaround mirrors Romney’s surge across swing states, including the major battlegrounds of Ohio, Florida and Virginia, since he scored a big win in the Oct. 3 debate.
In Pennsylvania, Romney’s surge was fueled largely by white Catholic voters who back him by 56-43 percent, the Quinnipiac poll found.
“Gov. Romney is coming on strong in the Keystone State, especially among white Catholics,” said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the polling institute.
Romney has taken the lead among Pennsylvania male voters by 54-43, while Obama continued to win big with women voters by 57-39.
Only 7 percent of Pennsylvania likely voters say they might change their minds in the three weeks before they cast their ballots on Nov. 6.
Despite Romney’s gains, he still faces long odds for capturing Pennsylvania and its prized 20 electoral votes toward the 270 needed to win the election.
The state hasn’t voted Republican in a presidential election since George H.W. Bush won the White House in 1988. Romney had stopped running TV ads there and moved some of his campaign staff from Pennsylvania.
But Romney’s startling Pennsylvania rebound likely will force Obama to shore up support there, diverting resources from other battlegrounds.
Romney also has closed the gap in New Hampshire, where Obama has led consistently since the general-election campaign got under way in April.
The race in the Granite State was tied at 47 percent in a Suffolk University poll released this week.
Romney led with New Hampshire male voters by 49-43 percent, while Obama had the advantage among the state’s women voters by 50-46.
The race is now tied across most swing states, including Florida, Virginia, Colorado, Iowa and Nevada. Romney has even cut into Obama’s once-formidable lead in Ohio.
No Republican has won the White House without carrying Ohio.
He noted that the Real Clear Politics average of Ohio polls shows Obama ahead by 2.2 points, down from the 6-point lead he had held for the past two weeks.
Additional reporting by Geoff Earle