PPP: Obama leads in NC 48-47
PPP's newest poll of the Presidential race in North Carolina finds Barack Obama leading Mitt Romney 48-47. That sort of razor thin margin has been the constant in PPP's 19 monthly polls of the state dating back to November of 2010. Only once has either Obama or Romney led by more than a 3 point margin, suggesting the state's headed for the same sort of photo finish it had in 2008.
This month's poll does represent an improvement for Romney. The one time the race strayed from a 3 point margin one way or the other was last month, when Obama led by 5 points. Since wrapping up the Republican nomination Romney's seen a 13 point improvement in his net favorability from -29 (29/58) to -16 (37/53). He's still not popular, but his standing with independents and GOP voters is getting a lot better as conservatives unify around him for the general.
Obama maintains strong advantages with several key groups that should ensure North Carolina remains closely contested right on through the fall. He's up 53-43 with women, reflective of the GOP's struggles with that voter group everywhere. He has a 55-35 advantage with young voters, showing little slippage from our polling in 2008 with them. And he's polling at 87% with African Americans and more importantly we continue to see high levels of enthusiasm from black voters, making it likely that they'll again comprise 23% of the electorate as they did in 2008.
http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2012/05/obama-holds-small-lead-in-nc.html#tp
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