Two Nevada polls show starkly different presidential results

Two new polls, one Democratic and one Republican, show Nevada as either a slam-dunk for President Obama or a neck-and-neck race.

The Democratic poll, conducted by Public Policy Polling (PPP) for the League of Conservation Voters, has Obama leading GOP nominee Mitt Romney by nine points in the state, by 52 to 43 percent. 

The GOP poll, released by pollster Glen Bolger as a response, shows Obama and Romney tied at 46 percent apiece.

The Senate results mirror the presidential disparity. In the PPP poll, Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.) leads Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) by 48 to 44 percent, while Bolger's poll has Heller up by 5 percentage points. While partisan polls should be taken with a grain of salt, both pollsters have good track records and don't tend to miss the mark by much. The polls were also conducted during the same time period, with similar demographic compositions.

This public confusion mirrors private disagreement between the parties of how competitive each race is. Democratic operatives have long insisted that Berkley has a slight lead and Obama is running away with the state, while Republicans have argued Romney remains competitive and Heller has a comfortable lead.

Other recent public polling of the state shows Obama with an edge, though: depending on the poll, that lead ranges from two to seven points. The conservative Rasmussen Reports, which found Obama with the two-point lead, also had Heller up by a point in the state.

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