More evidence that President Obama has a big lead in the key state of Pennsylvania.
A new Philadelphia Inquirer Pennsylvania Poll puts Obama ahead of Republican Mitt Romney by 50%-39%, putting the incumbent in position for a sixth straight Democratic win in the Keystone State.
The Inquirer reports that "the Romney camp clearly has signaled doubts about Pennsylvania by slashing TV ads and candidate appearances. Obama, too, has cut back, and the state lags behind Ohio, Florida, and other swing states as targets for the most intensive campaigning."
Obama led Pennsylvania by nine points in the same poll in August.
A companion Inquirer poll gave Obama a 51%-37% lead in New Jersey.
There was a time Pennsylvania was considered a major battleground state, not unlike neighboring Ohio. But the Republicans have not carried in a presidential election since George H.W. Bush in 1988.
But the two pollsters who work with the Inquirer note that the the 2012 race is not over, certainly not with three presidential debates coming up.
"I'm not 100 percent prepared to say Pennsylvania is not in play," said Adam Geller, of National Research Inc., a Republican firm.
Jeffrey Plaut, of Global Strategy Group, Geller's Democratic partner in the Inquirer poll, said: "Is Pennsylvania done? Put a fork in it? I would say not yet."
