UPI Poll: Obama, Romney neck and neck

WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 (UPI) -- U.S. President Obama and Republican rival Mitt Romney were tied just five days ahead of Election Day, a United Press International poll Thursday indicated.

Obama and Romney were named by 48 percent of likely voters when asked who they would vote for if Election Day were today, results of the UPI-CVoter poll indicated.

Obama's approval ratings were at 49 percent, the same level as on Tuesday. However, the number of participants who said they disapproved of the job he was doing rose by 1 percentage point to 46 percent.

Asked which party they believed could handle the problems facing the nation better, 37 percent of likely voters said the Republican Party and 33 percent named the Democratic Party.

Results are based on nationwide telephone interviews conducted last Thursday through Wednesday with 1,470 registered voters, of which 1,222 were identified as likely voters. The margin of error for the main sample is 3.5 percentage points and 4.5 points for the sample of likely voters.