Poll shows narrow lead for Romney over Obama
Republican challenger Mitt Romney has a two-point lead over President Barack Obama just 12 days before Election Day, a new Associated Press-GfK poll shows.
Mr Romney is favoured by 47% of likely voters to 45% for Mr Obama.
The poll shows Mr Obama has ceded his 16-point advantage among women, while largely erasing Mr Romney's edge among men. The tight results among likely voters fall within the poll's margin of sampling error.
Mr Obama's dip in support among women appeared to reflect a drive by Mr Romney in October to show himself as a more moderate candidate after months of campaigning as a hard-right conservative.
Mr Romney's gains also showed his economic argument has made progress with women as he has sought to soften his image.
A month ago, women favoured the president over his challenger on the economy 56% to 40%. Now, the split has shifted to 49% for Mr Romney and 45% for Mr Obama.
The poll still showed Mr Obama with a hefty lead, 55% to 41%, among female likely voters on the question of which candidate would make the right decisions on women's issues.
For all of the good news for Republicans, however, what matters most in the final days before the November 6 election is Mr Romney's standing in the handful of states that still are up for grabs.
Polls in a number of those battleground states still appear to favour Mr Obama.
