WASHINGTON -- New polls released Thursday by Quinnipiac University showed President Barack Obama leading Mitt Romney by such narrow margins in Ohio and Florida that the pollsters characterized the two contests as "essentially tied" and "too close to call."
But when combined with other recent polls, the results show Obama running slightly better now than at a comparable points in the 2008 election.
The Quinnipiac poll in Ohio shows Obama edging Romney by 2 percentage points (44 to 42 percent), a slightly closer margin than in three other polls conducted in late April. The surveys by Fox News, Rasmussen Reports and Purple Strategies all give Obama slightly bigger leads, ranging from 4 to 6 points. As of this writing, the HuffPost Pollster chart, based on all of the Ohio polls, gives Obama a 4-point lead (45.7 to 41.7 percent).
