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                   Obama Edges Romney in Latest Opinion Polls

   by VOA News

   New political surveys in the U.S. show that President Barack Obama has,
   at least for the moment, edged ahead of Republican Mitt Romney as the
   two candidates enter the final eight weeks of the country's
   presidential election campaign.
   The two candidates had been virtually tied in surveys a week ago after
   completion of Romney's national Republican convention. But after Obama
   accepted the Democratic nomination for a second term as president at
   his party's convention last week, four polls showed his support
   increasing.
   U.S. presidential candidates frequently get a "bounce" of support after
   their national conventions, but Obama's appears to be more substantial
   than Romney's. Sometimes such gains prove to be short-lived, but not
   always.
   Two prominent polls tracking voter sentiment over several days -- the
   [1]Gallup and [2]Rasmussen Reports surveys -- showed the president with
   his biggest lead in several weeks. The Gallup poll on Sunday showed an
   Obama lead of 49 percent to 44, with Rasmussen at a similar 49-45
   count.
   ''The candidates are focusing their campaigning on key states where the
   surveys show voter sentiment is virtually split between the two. The
   U.S. does not elect its presidents by popular vote, but rather through
   an electoral college system in which each state's influence on the
   outcome is weighted by its population).
   Obama's re-election campaign, for the first time in several months,
   narrowly out-raised Romney's fundraising effort in August.
   Obama's campaign manager, Jim Messina, said Sunday the campaign had
   pulled in $114 million last month in conjunction with the Democratic
   National Committee.  Hours earlier, the Romney campaign announced it
   had raised $111 million in August along with the Republican National
   Committee.
   Although Romney was out-raised in August, it was the third straight
   month his campaign had collected more than $100 million and he has more
   cash in the bank than the president, as they head to the November 6
   election.
   [Some information for this report provided by AP and Reuters.]
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   [3]http://www.voanews.com/content/obama-edges-romney-in-latest-opinion-
   polls/1504918.html

References

   1. http://www.gallup.com/poll/150743/Obama-Romney.aspx
   2. http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll
   3. http://www.voanews.com/content/obama-edges-romney-in-latest-opinion-polls/1504918.html