PPP: Obama leads in Iowa, New Hampshire

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RALEIGH, N.C., Nov. 5 (UPI) -- President Obama holds identical 50 percent-to-48 percent leads over Republican rival Mitt Romney in Iowa and New Hampshire, Public Policy Polling said.

The slight advantages for the Democratic incumbent in the two battleground states are consistent with Public Policy Polling findings since the first presidential debate in early October, the Raleigh, N.C.-based polling agency said Sunday in a release.

Obama has a substantial lead among people who participated in the state's early voting period, 61 percent to 39 percent. Among people planning to vote on Election Day, Romney has a 56 percent-to-41 percent advantage.

In New Hampshire, the candidates are tied among independents. Obama has the slight overall advantage because he's winning over 9 percent of Republicans while just 4 percent of Democrats said they plan to vote for Romney, PPP said.

"Iowa and New Hampshire look like they're going to be pretty close," said Dean Debnam, Public Policy Polling president. "But we have pretty persistently found Obama with small leads in these states over the last couple weeks."

Results are based on telephone interviews conducted Saturday and Sunday with 1,122 likely voters in Iowa and 1,550 in New Hampshire. The margin of error is 2.9 percentage points for Iowa and 2.5 percentage points for New Hampshire.