President Barack Obama and Republican
challenger Mitt Romney remained in a virtual tie in the latest opinion poll
released Sunday, just two days before the White House election.
The survey by the
Wall Street Journal and NBC News gave Obama 48 percent support and Romney 47
percent — a statistical dead heat, given the survey’s margin of error of plus
or minus 2.55 percentage points.
“This poll is
reflecting a very, very close campaign nationally,” Republican pollster Bill
McInturff, who conducted this survey with Democratic pollster Peter Hart, said
in a statement.
“It’s a dead heat,”
Hart added. “This election is going to be decided by turnout, turnout,
turnout.”
The poll, conducted
between November 1-3, sampled 1,475 likely voters. The findings were in keeping
with most national polls which find the presidential contest too close to call.
Most polls, however,
give Obama a slight but significant lead in most of the crucial battleground
states that ultimately will determine the outcome of the presidential, and
therefore give the Democratic incumbent favorable odds of re-election