Gallup: Romney’s national lead narrows

President Obama is closing in on GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney nationally, according to the closely watched Gallup daily tracking poll.

Romney takes 50 percent over Obama at 47, in the poll of likely voters released Wednesday. That’s the closest Gallup’s likely voter tracking survey has been since Oct. 14. Romney had maintained leads of between 5 and 7 points over the last seven days.

Obama has regained the lead in the poll among registered voters, 48 to 47 over Romney. It’s the first time Obama has led among registered voters in the poll since Oct. 14.

The survey is a rolling seven-day average through Oct. 23, so it completely encapsulates polling data since the second presidential debate last Tuesday night in Hempstead, N.Y., but includes only one day of reaction to Monday night’s foreign policy debate in Boca Raton, Fla.

Gallup has received a lot of attention, as Romney’s lead among likely voters has been outsized in comparison to other polls.

An ABC News-Washington Post poll put the candidates in a statistical dead heat, with Obama’s 49 to 48 edge within the poll’s margin of error, while an IBD-TIPP poll showed the president with a 47 to 45 advantage.

According to the RealClearPolitics average of polls, Romney leads by less than 1 percentage point nationally, 47.9 to 47.2.

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