Obama gets 50 percent mark in key US swing states

Washington: US President Barack Obama has for the first time hit the 50 percent mark in three crucial swing states, with women strongly favouring him over Republican foe Mitt Romney, a poll released on Wednesday said.

Surveys of Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania by Quinnipiac University showed the Democratic president breaking the crucial 50 percent barrier, less than 100 days before November’s election.

No candidate has won the White House since 1960 without winning at least two of those three states.

Romney trails badly in Pennsylvania, with the poll leaving him 11 percent behind the Democratic incumbent, and he is six points behind Obama in both Florida and Ohio.

“If today were November 6, President Barack Obama would sweep the key swing states of Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania and — if history is any guide — into a second term,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

“The president’s strength among women is the dominant dynamic fuelling his lead,” he added.

Obama led in the polls by 51 to 45 percent in Florida, by 50 to 44 percent in Ohio and by 53 to 42 percent in Pennsylvania, with his advantage underpinned by his appeal to among women voters.

The 50 percent polling barrier is historically an important indicator of a president’s prospects for re-election, and Obama has for months struggled to climb above it in national popular vote polls and approval ratings surveys.

Likeability can also be an important indicator of a candidate’s electoral performance and Romney’s poor showing on this may concern his campaign.

Some 42 percent of Florida voters, 43 percent of Ohioans and 47 percent of Pennsylvanians said they had an unfavorable opinion of him. In all three states Romney’s favorable ranking was lower than his unfavorable one.

Obama enjoyed favorable ratings of 50 percent or over in all three battlegrounds.