Obama keeps strong lead in U.S. presidential run, poll says

PanARMENIAN.Net - U.S. President Barack Obama continues to hold a 10-percentage point lead over Republican challenger Mitt Romney in this year’s presidential election contest, RIA Novosti said, citing the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.

“Currently, 51% say they support Obama or lean toward him, while 41% support or lean toward Romney,” the Washington-based pollster said in a report released on Thursday.

According to the latest nationwide survey conducted by the Pew Research Center on July 16-26 among 2,508 adults the current figure is consistent with polling results over the course of this year.

However, Obama holds only a four-point edge (48% to 44%) in 12 of this year’s “key battleground states,” including Colorado, Florida, Nevada, Iowa and New Hampshire.

In addition, his current personal ratings are lower than those of most presidential candidates in elections during the past 14 years. Currently, slightly more voters have a favorable (50%) than unfavorable (45%) opinion of Barack Obama.

“Not since Michael Dukakis in 1988 has a Democratic candidate gone into the election with favorability ratings as low as Obama’s are today,” the Pew Research Center said.

Nevertheless, he is in a better shape than his rival as even more voters say they have an unfavorable than favorable view of Mitt Romney by a 52% to 37% margin.

The Republican presidential candidate has been dogged by questions about his personal taxes, which the Democrats claim he has not paid for the past 10 years.

The presidential elections in the United States will be held on November 6.