[h=3]By PATRICK O'CONNOR and JANET HOOK[/h]
Associated PressRepublican nominee Mitt Romney spoke Thursday at the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Fla.
Mitt Romney's path to victory is narrowing, new polling data suggest, presenting challenges for the Republican nominee at a moment when he is trying to rebound from a week of bad headlines by refocusing on federal spending.
President Barack Obama has opened an eight percentage-point lead in Iowa and maintains a five-point edge in Colorado and Wisconsin, according to Wall Street Journal/NBC News/Marist Poll surveys of the three presidential battlegrounds released Thursday.
The new poll results are significant in part because the Romney campaign views the three states as steppingstones to an Electoral College majority, given Mr. Romney's slippage in polls of two of the largest battlegrounds, Ohio and Virginia.
The margin of error in the polls for likely voters was plus or minus 3.1 percentage points in Colorado, 3.2 points in Wisconsin and 3.3 points in Iowa.
The new Journal surveys were taken just as video surfaced earlier this week of Mr. Romney telling donors that nearly half the country "sees themselves as victims" and is dependent on government.
Coming amid other poll data, the new results show Mr. Romney with ground to make up in a large number of states amid a shrinking pool of undecided voters. One measure of the hurdle he faces: Even if Mr. Romney were awarded all the states in which the president leads by less than three percentage points in aggregated poll results—states such as Colorado, Florida and Iowa—Mr. Obama would still win re-election based on his leads in Ohio, Virginia and smaller swing states.
The results come as public opinion is on the verge of turning into votes cast at the ballot box. So far, on-the-ground data from two early voting states, Iowa and North Carolina, are mixed for the two candidates. In North Carolina, Republicans have requested nearly 7,000 more absentee ballots than Democrats, out of nearly 50,000 requests, according to state officials.
But in Iowa, Democrats have requested roughly 100,000 ballots, compared with 16,073 ballots requested by Republicans.
"I see the early vote numbers, and I grimace a little bit," said Craig Robinson, a former political director of the Iowa Republican Party and editor of a popular blog, The Iowa Republican. "It feels like an Obama state….The president has been more accessible to voters than Romney and Ryan."
The Romney camp dismisses most of the recent polling as a "sugar high" for Mr. Obama left over from the party conventions. Among other factors, they point to polling that shows Republicans hold a modest edge in voter enthusiasm and data that shows a large percentage of Americans still think the country is moving in the wrong direction.
"We feel like we're in a very close contest," said Ed Gillespie, a senior adviser to the Romney campaign. "We feel like Romney is likely to win."
In all three of the new Journal surveys, Mr. Obama had backing from at least 50% of likely voters, suggesting that Mr. Romney will have to strip supporters from the president to win. In Iowa, Mr. Obama held 50% of the vote to 42% for Mr. Romney. Mr. Obama led his GOP rival 50% to 45% in Colorado and Wisconsin.
In all three states, at least 50% of the likely voters view Mr. Obama favorably, while half of the likely voters in Colorado and Iowa view Mr. Romney unfavorably. By narrow margins, voters in Iowa and Colorado saw Mr. Obama as better able to handle the economy, whereas Wisconsin voters gave the edge to Mr. Romney.
Associated PressPresident Barack Obama campaigned in Miami.
Republicans, looking for bright spots in otherwise troublesome data, argue that Mr. Romney's voters will be more inclined to turn out on Election Day.
In Colorado and Wisconsin, 64% of his supporters said they were very enthusiastic about voting in November, compared with 59% and 58% of Obama supporters in Colorado and Wisconsin, respectively. In Iowa, the level of enthusiasm was tied.
The three state surveys come amid a broader set of challenges for Mr. Romney, among them the release of his videotaped comments at a Florida fundraiser. The Romney campaign moved Thursday to shift its focus to federal spending and its proposal to overhaul Medicare, the popular health-care program for seniors and the disabled.
Mr. Romney's running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, speaks to seniors' lobby AARP in New Orleans on Friday. Mr. Obama will address the group by satellite.
"Medicare is going broke," Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) says in the latest ad from the Romney campaign, released Thursday. "Anyone who wants to leave Medicare like it is, is for letting it go bankrupt."
The ad doesn't delve into the solution Messrs. Romney and Ryan have proposed: converting the open-ended entitlement program to a system where future retirees use federal subsidies to buy private insurance plans or buy into Medicare.
Mr. Romney revived his criticism of cuts to health-care providers that Mr. Obama signed into law. Rather than backing the cuts, his campaign says it will use market competition to drive down Medicare costs.
"He cut Medicare by $716 billion,'' Mr. Romney said at a campaign stop in Sarasota, Fla. "And if I'm president of the United States, we're going to put that $716 billion back into Medicare, back into the care of our seniors."
Mr. Obama's campaign released its own ad on Medicare, saying the Romney plan would raise costs for seniors.
Mr. Obama worked Thursday to maintain his support among Latino voters. He credited his advantage to a lack of Republican support for a rewrite of immigration laws over the last four years and his own executive action that halted the deportation of some young, undocumented immigrants.
"I think if you take a look at the polls, I was winning the Latino vote before we took that action, partly because the other side had completely abandoned their commitment to things like comprehensive immigration reform," Mr. Obama said during a town hall hosted by Univision.
—Danny Yadron, Colleen McCain Nelson, Carol E. Lee and Sara Murray contributed to this article.Write to Janet Hook at [email protected]
Mitt Romney's path to victory is narrowing, new polling data suggest, presenting challenges for the Republican nominee at a moment when he is trying to rebound from a week of bad headlines by refocusing on federal spending.
President Barack Obama has opened an eight percentage-point lead in Iowa and maintains a five-point edge in Colorado and Wisconsin, according to Wall Street Journal/NBC News/Marist Poll surveys of the three presidential battlegrounds released Thursday.
The new poll results are significant in part because the Romney campaign views the three states as steppingstones to an Electoral College majority, given Mr. Romney's slippage in polls of two of the largest battlegrounds, Ohio and Virginia.
The margin of error in the polls for likely voters was plus or minus 3.1 percentage points in Colorado, 3.2 points in Wisconsin and 3.3 points in Iowa.
The new Journal surveys were taken just as video surfaced earlier this week of Mr. Romney telling donors that nearly half the country "sees themselves as victims" and is dependent on government.
Coming amid other poll data, the new results show Mr. Romney with ground to make up in a large number of states amid a shrinking pool of undecided voters. One measure of the hurdle he faces: Even if Mr. Romney were awarded all the states in which the president leads by less than three percentage points in aggregated poll results—states such as Colorado, Florida and Iowa—Mr. Obama would still win re-election based on his leads in Ohio, Virginia and smaller swing states.
The results come as public opinion is on the verge of turning into votes cast at the ballot box. So far, on-the-ground data from two early voting states, Iowa and North Carolina, are mixed for the two candidates. In North Carolina, Republicans have requested nearly 7,000 more absentee ballots than Democrats, out of nearly 50,000 requests, according to state officials.
But in Iowa, Democrats have requested roughly 100,000 ballots, compared with 16,073 ballots requested by Republicans.
"I see the early vote numbers, and I grimace a little bit," said Craig Robinson, a former political director of the Iowa Republican Party and editor of a popular blog, The Iowa Republican. "It feels like an Obama state….The president has been more accessible to voters than Romney and Ryan."
The Romney camp dismisses most of the recent polling as a "sugar high" for Mr. Obama left over from the party conventions. Among other factors, they point to polling that shows Republicans hold a modest edge in voter enthusiasm and data that shows a large percentage of Americans still think the country is moving in the wrong direction.
"We feel like we're in a very close contest," said Ed Gillespie, a senior adviser to the Romney campaign. "We feel like Romney is likely to win."
In all three of the new Journal surveys, Mr. Obama had backing from at least 50% of likely voters, suggesting that Mr. Romney will have to strip supporters from the president to win. In Iowa, Mr. Obama held 50% of the vote to 42% for Mr. Romney. Mr. Obama led his GOP rival 50% to 45% in Colorado and Wisconsin.
In all three states, at least 50% of the likely voters view Mr. Obama favorably, while half of the likely voters in Colorado and Iowa view Mr. Romney unfavorably. By narrow margins, voters in Iowa and Colorado saw Mr. Obama as better able to handle the economy, whereas Wisconsin voters gave the edge to Mr. Romney.
Republicans, looking for bright spots in otherwise troublesome data, argue that Mr. Romney's voters will be more inclined to turn out on Election Day.
In Colorado and Wisconsin, 64% of his supporters said they were very enthusiastic about voting in November, compared with 59% and 58% of Obama supporters in Colorado and Wisconsin, respectively. In Iowa, the level of enthusiasm was tied.
The three state surveys come amid a broader set of challenges for Mr. Romney, among them the release of his videotaped comments at a Florida fundraiser. The Romney campaign moved Thursday to shift its focus to federal spending and its proposal to overhaul Medicare, the popular health-care program for seniors and the disabled.
Mr. Romney's running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, speaks to seniors' lobby AARP in New Orleans on Friday. Mr. Obama will address the group by satellite.
"Medicare is going broke," Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) says in the latest ad from the Romney campaign, released Thursday. "Anyone who wants to leave Medicare like it is, is for letting it go bankrupt."
The ad doesn't delve into the solution Messrs. Romney and Ryan have proposed: converting the open-ended entitlement program to a system where future retirees use federal subsidies to buy private insurance plans or buy into Medicare.
Mr. Romney revived his criticism of cuts to health-care providers that Mr. Obama signed into law. Rather than backing the cuts, his campaign says it will use market competition to drive down Medicare costs.
"He cut Medicare by $716 billion,'' Mr. Romney said at a campaign stop in Sarasota, Fla. "And if I'm president of the United States, we're going to put that $716 billion back into Medicare, back into the care of our seniors."
Mr. Obama's campaign released its own ad on Medicare, saying the Romney plan would raise costs for seniors.
Mr. Obama worked Thursday to maintain his support among Latino voters. He credited his advantage to a lack of Republican support for a rewrite of immigration laws over the last four years and his own executive action that halted the deportation of some young, undocumented immigrants.
"I think if you take a look at the polls, I was winning the Latino vote before we took that action, partly because the other side had completely abandoned their commitment to things like comprehensive immigration reform," Mr. Obama said during a town hall hosted by Univision.
—Danny Yadron, Colleen McCain Nelson, Carol E. Lee and Sara Murray contributed to this article.Write to Janet Hook at [email protected]