Politico Poll: Obama, Romney in dead heat

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WASHINGTON, Oct. 22 (UPI) -- Republican challenger Mitt Romney has a slight lead nationally over President Obama, but was still in the margin of error in a Politico poll released Monday.

Results of the Politico-George Washington University Battleground Tracking Poll of likely voters indicated Romney led Obama by 2 percentage points, 49 percent to 47 percent, but the race remained in a virtual dead heat because the lead was within the margin of error.

In the 10 states identified by Politico as competitive, Romney led 50 percent to 48 percent. Politico considers Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin as the 10 competitive battleground states.

On a generic congressional ballot, Republicans tied Democrats at 46 percent after trailing slightly during the past six weeks, results indicated.

Regardless of which candidate they back, 51 percent of registered voters said they think Obama will win the election and 37 percent said Romney, results indicated.

Results are based on nationwide polling Oct. 14-18 of 1,000 registered voters who said they were likely to vote in the election. The margin of error is 3.1 percentage points.