Obama holds 50-45 percent lead in Ohio

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COLUMBUS, Ohio, Oct. 22 (UPI) -- President Obama holds a 50 percent to 45 percent lead over Gov. Mitt Romney in the crucial swing state of Ohio, a Quinnipiac/CBS News poll released Monday says.

The margin is half that of Obama's lead in a Sept. 26 Quinnipiac/CBS News/New York Times poll, which showed him leading 53 percent to 43 percent, a Quinnipiac/CBS News press release said.

The latest survey shows Obama leading, 55 percent to 40 percent, among women in Ohio while Romney leads among men, 51 percent to 44 percent. Voters with college degrees are nearly evenly divided, with Romney leading 49 percent to 47 percent, but voters without college degrees favor Obama 52 percent to 43 percent.

"The good news for Governor Romney is that he has sliced President Obama's lead in Ohio in half in the past month. The bad news for Romney, and the good news for Obama, is that no republican has ever won the White House without carrying Ohio, and the challenger is running out of time," said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

"It's more difficult for Romney to come into Ohio and say the economy is doing poorly and that it's Obama's fault when voters there think things are getting better by more than two-to-one," said Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, who holds a 51 percent to 42 percent lead in his re-election bid against Republican state Treasurer Josh Mandel.

The survey took place Wednesday through Saturday, calling 1,548 likely Ohio voters with telephone landlines and cellphones, and has a margin of error of 2.5 percent.