Poll: Romney, Obama running roughly even in ground game

Although both presidential campaigns have touted their political ground games as the reason their candidate will break away in a presidential race that looks essentially deadlocked, a new survey from the Pew Research Center suggests Mitt Romney and President Obama are also running roughly even in terms of outreach.

While nearly eight in 10 voters in battleground states have received campaign-related direct mail and six in 10 say they've been the recipient of a pre-recorded phone call, neither side has pulled away in influencing voters.

In fact, 38 percent of voters in battleground states say they have been contacted by both campaigns, with 14 percent saying they have only been contacted by the Romney campaign and 13 percent saying only the president's reelection team has reached out to them. Around a third of battleground state voters say they have been missed by both campaigns.

Even when the field is expanded to all voters — including those in states considered safely Republican and Democratic — neither campaign has an edge. Two in 10 voters nationwide have been contacted by both campaigns, while 11 percent report being contacted exclusively by the Obama campaign and 10 percent say only the Romney campaign has reached out to them.

While the vast majority of voter contacts have come from robocalls and direct mail, nearly four in 10 voters in battleground states say they have received personal phone calls from one of the campaigns. More than a third have received text messages or emails from the candidates, and nearly two in 10 have been visited at home by a campaign volunteer or staffer.

Interestingly, nearly a third of voters in solidly red states and some 45 percent of voters in blue states have also received campaign mail, evidence of the wide reach of this year's presidential effort.

But the news is potentially discouraging for both campaigns, which have contended in recent days that their ground games could make a difference. The Obama campaign has repeatedly pointed to its massive infrastructure and its lead in the number of campaign offices in pivotal swing states. In Ohio, for instance, Obama has 131 field offices, while the Romney campaign has around 40.

But the Republican National Committee has repeatedly pointed out that the number of door-knocks and phone calls they've made already far outpaces efforts in previous elections — and that there remains nearly a week until Election Day. Republicans are also benefiting from an advantage with outside groups, which have spent heavily on phone banks and direct mail.

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