Obama has slight lead in Virginia, Post poll finds

By Bernie Becker - 10/27/12 08:27 PM ET

President Obama holds a narrow four-point advantage over Mitt Romney in Virginia less than two weeks before Election Day, according to a new Washington Post poll.

Obama leads 51 percent to 47 percent among likely Virginia voters, the Post poll found, in a state that increasingly seems crucial to Romney’s chances in November.

The president, meanwhile, is trying to pull off back-to-back victories in the Old Dominion, four years after becoming the first Democrat to carry the state in a presidential election since 1964.

According to the Post poll, Virginia voters are more likely to believe that Obama will protect Medicare, that the president better understands their economic issues and that he will be stronger on foreign affairs.

Voters also preferred Obama on social issues after the president made his stance on abortion and other women’s health issues a key part of his pitch in voter-rich Northern Virginia.

Romney, voters said, would be stronger on debts and the budget, while voters were more split on the economy -- perhaps the key issue of this year’s election. Roughly four in 10 likely voters also said they had been contacted by each campaign.

The findings underscore how tight the presidential race appears to be, just 10 days before voters finish going to the polls.

Romney, in the wake of this month’s presidential debates, saw a surge in popularity and has taken the lead in several prominent national polls.

But polling in key swing states – including Ohio and Wisconsin – also suggests that it’s the president, not Romney, who has a clearer path to the needed 270 electoral votes.

Romney has come on strong in Florida, the most populous of the swing states and also claimed momentum in Virginia after attacking the president over defense cuts.

But with Virginia critical in Romney’s electoral calculus, the Post poll also found voters split over who would better handle military spending and Obama voters, on average, were more enthusiastic than Romney supporters.

Recent polling has shown the race for Virginia’s 13 electoral votes to be very tight. Two separate polls in the last couple of days showed the race tied, while Rasmussen and Fox News gave Romney a slight lead.

Public Policy Polling, a Democratic-leaning group, found Obama with a five-point lead this week.