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Poll: Obama up in Colorado, Romney leads in Virginia
A new pair of swing-state polls show the presidential candidates splitting key battlegrounds, with President Obama holding a narrow lead in Colorado and Republican challenger Mitt Romney favored in Virginia.
In a We Ask America survey of registered voters, Romney leads the president 48 percent to 43 in Virginia, with 9 percent of respondents still undecided on whom they will vote for in the fall. That's the president's worst showing in Virginia this month; every other poll released in June showed Obama either tied with or leading Romney.
The discrepancy could be explained by the polling firm's house effect — a recent study by the New York Times's Nate Silver found We Ask America generally leaned Republican in its polls — or represent a shift in momentum for Romney. The presumptive Republican candidate is campaigning in Virginia on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Again, the We Ask America survey significantly breaks from other recent polls in the state, which generally had been giving Kaine a slight advantage, albeit within the margin of error.
"While Mitt Romney is enjoying a close lead, George Allen may have found his bearings in Old Dominion. The recent shift toward Romney we’re seeing in Virginia and a number of other key states this year will keep us watching closely to see if it sticks," the polling firm said in a statement.
In Colorado, We Ask America showed President Obama with a 4-point advantage, leading Romney 47 percent to 43. Obama won the state by 9 points in 2008, and is hoping his recent move to halt deportations of illegal immigrants who grew up in the United States as children can help him with Hispanics in the state.
The We Ask America numbers in that state are more in line with recent findings by other polling firms.
"In some ways, Colorado is the quintessential swing state where no party ever gets a good toe hold on the craggy political slopes," the firm wrote. "The Rocky Mountain’s State’s electorate can turn on a dime, though, and this is one area that we’ll continue to probe up until Election Day to see whether the president pulls away, or Romney claws his way back."
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