Poll: Obama leads in Virginia

President Obama leads Mitt Romney in the critical battleground state of Virginia, according to a survey released Thursday from Public Policy Polling.

Obama takes 51 percent support over Romney at 46. The survey was conducted on the Tuesday and Wednesday following Monday’s third and final presidential debate.

Obama led the same poll from last weekend, 49-47, over Romney.

The poll could be an outlier — according to the RealClearPolitics average of polls, Obama and Romney are tied at 48 in Virginia.

Obama is buoyed in the poll by a wide gender gap. Women favored Obama 57-41 over Romney, while men favored Romney 50-45 over Obama.

Obama overtook Romney with independents in the poll, and now holds a slight 47-45 lead with the group after trailing Romney by 1 point last week.

Romney’s surge in the polls has made Republicans optimistic that Romney will secure the three critical Southern swing states of Virginia, Florida and North Carolina.

Obama is campaigning in Virginia on Thursday.

The survey of 722 likely voters was conducted between Oct. 23 and 24 and has a 3.6 percent margin of error.

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