Obama narrowly pulls ahead of Romney in Va., poll finds

Credit: SUSAN WALSH/AP

President Obama spoke last week in Falls Church. Virginia voters still give the president a negative job approval rating.

By: Olympia Meola | Richmond Times-Dispatch
Published: February 08, 2012

RICHMOND, Va. --

President Barack Obama has pulled ahead of Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney in Virginia, 47 percent to 43 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released this morning.

When it comes to the GOP presidential primary field, the former Massachusetts governor has a solid lead over his competitors among likely Republican primary voters. Romney and Rep. Ran Paul are the only two candidates who qualified for the Virginia Republican presidential primary ballot. Romney leads Paul among likely primary voters 68–19 percent.

“For the first time since Quinnipiac University began polling Virginia voters on the race, President Barack Obama holds a razor-thin lead over Gov. Mitt Romney,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “The keys are the president’s improved standing among independent voters and women in the Old Dominion.”

A December survey by Quinnipiac showed Romney with 44 percent and Obama with 42 percent.

In an Obama-Romney matchup, independent voters favor the president 45–41 percent in the latest poll, compared to a 41–41 percent tie in December. The new polling shows women are backing the president 52– 40 percent, compared to a 43–45 percent split in December. Men back Romney 47–43 percent, compared to 43–42 percent in December.

Virginia voters still give the president a negative job approval rating, 46–49 percent, and 48 percent does not think he deserves a second term office. That's a change from December when voters said 53–41 percent that Obama did not deserve four more years.

“The Obama bump could be driven by the perception that the economy is improving. And, the nasty GOP primary fight is not helping Romney, exposing swing voters to lots of negative attacks on him from within his own party,” Brown said.

Quinnipiac surveyed 1,544 registered voters between Feb. 1 - 6 with a margin of error of +/- 2.5 percentage points. The Republican primary polling includes 546 likely voters with a margin of error of +/- 4.2 percent.

Obama narrowly pulls ahead of Romney in Va., poll finds

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