President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney remain in a 48% to 47% dead heat heading into Tuesday’s election, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.
As the candidates headed to battlegroundl Midwestern states Monday, Romney maintained his lead over Obama with crucial independent voters: 47% to 40%. Despite the split, state by state polls showed that President Obama held a slight edge over Romney in battlegrounds including Iowa, Ohio and Wisconsin.
Although Romney leads the president 47% to 40% among voters concerned about the economy, 52% of likely voters also said the economy was recovering.
A full 67% of likely voters approved of the president’s handling of the hurricane, giving Obama an “11th hour break with voters,” according to Chuck Todd, host of The Daily Rundown and NBC News’ chief White House correspondent.
The Sandy Effect has slightly raised the proportion of voters who have a favorable impression of Obama to 41%, compared to 40% two weeks ago.
With polls showing a deadlock for the election, Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart, who conducted the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll with Republican pollster Bill McInturff, argued the race would come down to that old campaign standby, “[voter] turnout, turnout, turnout.”
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