Presidential Polls: Obama Starting To Claw Back Some Of Romney’s Momentum

Presidential polls have looked much kinder to Barack Obama in the last few days after a week in which Mitt Romney seized all of the momentum in the race for the White House.

Romney’s stellar performance in the first debate — which just so happened to match up perfectly with his strength on the economy and a lackluster debate from Obama — helped him shoot forward in the presidential polls.

In the weeks leading up to the debate Romney had been falling considerably, hurt by squabbles within the campaign and controversies like his secretly taped speech where he appears to discount the “47 percent” of Americans who pay no income tax. Romney’s chances at winning the election fell to below 20 percent on FiveThirtyEight, an election blog that compiles results of all nationwide presidential polls.

The debate changed all that. Romney closed the 4- to 6-point deficit he faced in the majority of nationwide presidential polls to pull even with Obama, and even take slim leads in a few.

After holding to that advantage for a little more than week, it appears Obama has stopped the bleeding. Romney’s gains in presidential polls seemed to come to a stop on Friday, as he held a two-point lead in the Gallup daily tracking poll, 49 percent to 47 percent. Since then Obama has pulled back some, taking 47 percent to 44 lead in the JZ Analytics/Newsmax poll released Sunday. He also improved his standing in the crucial swing states of Colorado and Florida.

Presidential polls aren’t the only positive factor for the Obama campaign this week. Reports from early voting in Iowa and Ohio, two states necessary for Obama to win the 270 electoral votes necessary to remain in the White House, show strong voting from Democrats, The Huffington Post reported. In 2008 a strong showing in early voting was a key factor in Obama’s win.