WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney are running nearly in a dead heat in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvaniathree big battleground states vital to winning the White House next year — according to a new poll released Thursday.
The Quinnipiac University survey shows Obama leading Romney 45 percent to 42 percent in Ohio and 44 percent to 43 percent in Pennsylvania. In Florida, Romney polled ahead of the president 45 percent to 42 percent.
However, the results in all three states were either within or on the cusp of the polls’ margins of sampling error, each just under plus or minus 3 percentage points. In 2008, Obama narrowly won all three states. Since 1960, no one has won the presidency without capturing at least two of the three states.
The survey of swing states was conducted from Oct. 31 through Monday, just as sexual-harassment allegations against Herman Cain got heavy news media exposure. The three state polls found that Cain remained strong among Republicans, but his standing among non-Republicans had eroded — especially among women.
