Obama ahead in three battleground states: Poll
Washington: US President Barack Obama is ahead in three key battleground states, according to a new poll out on Wednesday.
The Quinnipiac University/New York Times/CBS News poll – carried out during and after last week’s Middle East turmoil – gave Obama the lead over Mitt Romney in Virginia, Wisconsin and Colorado, all crucial 2012 swing states.
The survey found that Obama had gained some ground on handling the economy – which has been the central issue of the campaign – and was way ahead of Romney when it comes to weathering a foreign crisis.
On the economy the two candidates remained neck-and-neck in all three states, with Obama ahead 49-46 percent in Wisconsin and the two within the three-point margin of error in the other two states.
But Obama was judged best able to handle an international crisis by a 50-43 percentage point margin in Colorado, 53-42 percent in Virginia and 53-41 percent in Wisconsin, according to the survey.
He also held an advantage on the issue of national security and terrorism in all three states, after trailing Romney 50-41 percent in Colorado in the same survey last month.
The poll was carried out September 11-17, as protests over an anti-Islam Internet video erupted outside US embassies and consulates across the Middle East and North Africa, including the Libyan city of Benghazi, where a US ambassador and three other Americans were killed in a deadly attack.
