Poll: Obama holds narrow edge in Ohio

President Obama has a small lead over Mitt Romney in the critical swing state of Ohio, according to a survey from liberal-leaning Public Policy Polling released on Tuesday.

Obama leads 48 percent to 45 over Romney. Obama also had a 3 percentage point advantage in the same poll from June.

Obama leads Romney by 4 percentage points in Ohio, according to the RealClearPolitics average of polls, although a survey from conservative polling outlet Rasmussen released on Tuesday showed a 45-45 tie.

Part of the PPP poll was conducted before Romney named Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) as his running mate, and part was conducted after.

“Barack Obama continues to hold a slight advantage in Ohio,” said Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling. “But the race remains close there and it still looks very much like a swing state.”

While the overall economy continues to struggle — GDP growth slowed to an anemic 1.5 percent in June — Ohio has seen a significant drop in its unemployment rate, which now sits well below the national average of 8.2 percent. 


Ohio’s unemployment rate has fallen 1.5 percentage points in the last year, to 7.3 percent.

 By some estimates, Obama will need to win about half of the electoral votes supplied by the swing states of Florida, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Virginia, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Iowa, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire if he is to secure a second term.
 
The president won all of those states in 2008. 

Ohio has the second most Electoral College votes at stake among those 12 battleground states.

The PPP survey of 961 likely voters was conducted between Aug. 9 and 12 and has a 3.2 percent margin of error.

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