Poll: Obama, Romney deadlocked

WASHINGTON, July 10 (UPI) -- President Obama and presumptive Republican challenger Mitt Romney are deadlocked in their bid to be U.S. president, a Washington Post-ABC News poll indicated.

The two tied at 47 percent among registered voters, results released Monday indicated.

Seventy-four percent of all voters are "definitely" supporting Obama or Romney, and 12 percent said it was unlikely they would change their vote, results indicated.

Voters in swing states that Obama won in 2008 are evenly split on whether their vote will be more about the president's performance in his first term or what they think he would do if re-elected, results indicated. The Post said the shift is significant because political independents looking toward a second term side with Obama, but those reviewing Obama's first term prefer Romney.

On the campaign's top issue, the economy, 54 percent of all adults and 60 percent of independents rated Obama negatively, the Post said. However, when measured against Romney, voters were closely split, with 48 percent saying they trust Romney on the economy and 45 percent saying they trust Obama. Obama has a 12-point advantage on the question of which candidate has a clearer plan to deal with the country's economic ills.

Results are based on a nationwide telephone survey of 1,003 adults conducted Thursday through Sunday. The margin of error is 4 percentage points for the full sample and a sample of 855 registered voters.