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Subscribe to RSSNow that Mitt Romney is the official GOP presidential nominee, President Obama placed a call to the former governor to congratulate him. Meanwhile both campaigns have already spent a combined $85 million on TV ads. NBC's Chuck Todd reports.
President Barack Obama and presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney are deadlocked in three key presidential battleground states, according to a new round of NBC-Marist polls.
In Iowa, the two rivals are tied at 44 percent among registered voters, including those who are undecided but leaning toward a candidate. Ten percent of voters in the Hawkeye State are completely undecided.
In Colorado, Obama gets support from 46 percent of registered voters, while Romney gets 45 percent.
And in Nevada, the president is at 48 percent and Romney is at 46 percent.
These three states are all battlegrounds that Obama carried in 2008, but George W. Bush won in 2004.
“These are very, very competitive states,” says Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, which conducted these polls. “Everything is close.”
Results from NBC-Marist polling in three other battleground states released last week – Florida, Ohio and Virginia – showed Obama with narrow leads in each state.
Optimism, pessimism and enthusiasm
In Colorado, Iowa and Nevada, a more optimistic attitude about the U.S. economy is working in Obama’s favor. Majorities in each of the three states believe the worst is behind us, rather than yet to come.
In addition, majorities in these states say that the president mostly inherited the current economic conditions.
David Axelrod, a senior adviser for President Obama's re-election campaign, speaks with TODAY's Matt Lauer about the President's strategies for taking on the battleground states and rekindling the enthusiasm from 2008.
But what seems to be hurting Obama – and helping Romney – is a sense that the nation is on the wrong track, with 54 percent in Iowa, 55 percent in Nevada and 56 percent in Colorado sharing that belief.
First Thoughts: Still fighting on GOP turf
Asked which candidate would do a better job on the economy, respondents in Colorado (45 percent to 42 percent) and Iowa (46 percent to 41 percent) picked Romney over Obama. But the two men were tied in Nevada (44 percent to 44 percent).
What’s more, Romney leads Obama in Colorado and Iowa among those expressing a high level of enthusiasm, while the president leads among those voters in Nevada.
Obama’s approval rating, Nevada’s Senate race
The NBC-Marist poll also shows that Obama’s approval rating is above water in Iowa (46 percent approve, 45 percent disapprove), and it’s underwater in Colorado (45 percent to 49 percent) and Nevada (46 percent to 47 percent)
And in Nevada’s competitive Senate contest, the survey finds incumbent Republican Sen. Dean Heller in a tight race with Democrat Shelley Berkley, with Heller getting 46 percent among registered voters and Berkley getting 44 percent.
President Obama phones Mitt Romney to congratulate him for locking up the GOP nomination. NBC's Steve Handelsman reports.
These NBC-Marist polls were conducted May 22-24 by landline and cell phone of 1,030 registered voters in Colorado, 1,106 registered voters in Iowa and 1,040 registered voters in Nevada. The margin of error in all three surveys is plus-minus 3.0 percentage points.
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woodsyhowlFannie and Freddy polluting the financial system (thanks to Frank and Dodd) with bad mortgages caused the economic collapse. Read a paper once in a while instead of listening to whack jobs like Bill Maher.
Really? WHAT A CROCK. I don't watch Bill Maher, and I DEFINITELY do not read whatever newspapers you are referring to, because those papers are full of the brown stuff that comes from you know where. Please get off the ignorant conservative parade route and actually do some RESEARCH!!
ProgressiveforAmerica
You may want to visit a good G-I specialist to help you get your head out of that dark, stinky place. That is exactly what happened and until we deal with it we are doomed to repeat it.
obama doesn't have to worry about it too much. If he doesn't have enough live voters the Dems will again just use as many dead ones as they need to.
My prayer is somehow they get stopped before November.
Interesting that you say that, given that the republicans in Indiania and the governor of WI are being investigated for voter fraud. In the case of Indiania, the guy was indicted and I believe convicted. Mitch Daniels did not fire him since he was hoping a deal could be negotiated regarding a possible plea bargain to a lesser offense. Finally, he was forced to let the guy go since he was facing jail time. And still you accuse the dems of fraud?
Dumb as box of rocks
innerstupid
Is President Oblumblumles going to be issuing the Black Panthers new baseball bats from the Adirondak Company or the old reliable "Louisville Sluggers" to intimidate voters this election? In 2008 the Panthers preferred the Sluggers when intimdating and threatening voters in Philadelphia.
P. S And because the Black Panthers were....black..... Erick the red Holder refused to prosecute them!!! Yeah we have racism in this country and the biggest racist lives currently in the White House!!
Shame on you msnbc...where is the story about Romney's out and out lie regarding the inspector general and Sylondra. The man lies outrightly over and over and you do nothing to expose him. Don't the American people deserve to know the difference between fact and fiction.
Don't anyone dare tell me that the press and media are giving Obama a free ride. It seems to me that when it comes to exposing Romney hypocrisy, you are noticeably silent. Why are you not speaking out against the lies?
irenermiscione-1
We all think you are the one who is telling lies.
...
Inner....
"difference between fact and fiction" Do you mean between the fiction of Obama being born in Hawaii and the fact he was born in Kenya? or the fiction that Obama actually had a job in his life, or the fact that the hardest day of work he ever experienced was walking thru Chicago graveyards registering voters for ACORN???
Just like 2008 they follow the polls and forget who still has land lines and they want us to believe its close. Was the 2008 election close?
Pissedoffperson
Are you as dumb as your picture suggests you are??? Why not stop being a "Pissed-on-person" and vote for an american citizen that has brains next time instead of the incompetent commie foreigner ?
See heres a liptard now that thinks making money is the same as creating jobs!
One of the most telling statistics of these polls is that the economy outweighs social issues in terms of importance in the coming election. And wouldn't you know it? Romney consistently outshines President Obama in people's expectations in his handling of economic affairs. I think President Obama realizes that he has a huge problem right now, which explains why he has begun aggressively campaigning so early.
Beezle
Oblumbles has never stopped campaigning ever since he was elected! And guess what? With his record of FAILURE he has to. And the only morons still willing to back him are the mentally challenged (Liberals)
He did stop when he was saving GM, killing bin laden , reforming health care and saving college kids money tho.
Officially by China's history and by my family's succession (genealogy), I am emperor of the nation of China. My family, people in Hawaii, usually votes on the Democrat ticket. Yet, I believe that a purge to get non-citizens off of the Florida voting list is necessary. Illegals should not have the right to vote and many of Florida's population are not citizens. The purge by the GOP is warranted. Ps: I wear two hats. First of all, I am an American. Secondly, by my family's genealogy record and heritage, I am a foreigner. China's head of state in exile. Illegals can tip the scales in favor of Obama. This is wrong as non-citizens get to elect who they want as President. If elected, will Obama get rid of illegals in the U.S.? I say that he will not as they were the ones that played a key role in getting him elected! Mark my words!
The only thing that is keeping Romney close is the multiple millions of dollars spent by crossroads and all the other super pacs who are propping up this failure of a human being. Given the fact that Romney is a liar that's the only thing that can keep him going.
The only thing that's keeping President Hope Dope from being impeached is the lack of an Attorney General and a Congress that's full of Dumbocraps
From Wikipedia:
"Less an entrepreneur than an executive running an investment operation,
Romney was skilled at presenting and selling the deals the company made."
Mr. Romney's experience at Bain Capital was as a financier, not as a businessperson.
Hey libs how did you like that performance put on by David Assolrod in Ma yesterday? What a joke!!
Looks like your "campainger in chief" is getting desperate!!!
Obama will not get Nevada. People here are sick of him. Even the union reps can't keep a straight face when talking about him. The stink of Obama is thick.
This is as close as Obama will ever get to carrying one of these swing states mentioned here. Romney is gaining momentum daily as Americans realize they put an empty suit in the White House. Have faith in the American electorate!
While Mitt sends his millions overseas along with American Jobs. The Repugnants are to blame for doing nothing but killing our economy.
Yellow journalism even in this article. Top shows nice shot of Obama, but not of Romney. Lower shows them both. Seem like they are trying to adjust the poll into a pro Obama article.
Oh, and Obama's name is mentioned 10 times, usually first, to Romney's only mentioned six time. More yellow jounalism.
romney will be about as stupid as bush was! anyone remember all that?
Romney told Las Vegas to "let it hit bottom"