Poll: Obama opens up 8-point lead in swing-state Virginia

President Obama has opened up an 8-point advantage over Mitt Romney in the critical swing state of Virginia, according to a Roanoke College poll released Tuesday.

Obama leads with 47 percent support in Virginia over Romney at 39 percent, according to the survey.

The poll could be an outlier — Obama only leads Romney by only 3.7 percentage points, according to the Real Clear Politics average of polls in Virginia.

Obama won Virginia 53 to 46 percent over Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in 2008. It was the first time since 1964 the state had gone to the Democratic presidential candidate.

Ten percent of Virginians were undecided in the poll, and 4 percent were divided between Libertarian candidate and former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, Green Party candidate Jill Stein and former Virginia congressman and Constitution Party candidate Virgil Goode, all of whom will be on the state's ballot in November.

The Roanoke College Poll of 589 likely voters in Virginia was conducted between Sept. 19 and Sept. 28 and has a 4 percent margin of error.

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