WASHINGTON POST - ABC NEWS POLL: Updated daily

The homestretch

The ultra-close race for president is winding down with a slight opening for President Obama. In the final Washington Post-ABC News tracking poll before Election Day, 50 percent of likely voters support Obama, and 47 percent support Mitt Romney. On the biggest issue facing the nation – the economy – Obama has drawn about even with Romney as the candidate best able to handle it. And Obama has re-opened an advantage on economic empathy.

If the presidential election were being held today, for whom would you vote? Among likely voters Obama Romney

Conventions

Pres. debate

V.P.
debate

Nov. 6:
Election

By voting groups

If the presidential election were being held today, for whom would you vote? (Among likely voters)

2012

Compared to 2008

OBAMA | ROMNEY

On the issues

Among likely voters:

Which candidate do you trust to do a better job handling the economy?

OBAMA

47%

ROMNEY

48%

Who do you think better understands the economic problems people are having?

OBAMA

51%

ROMNEY

43%

Do you approve or disapprove of the way Obama is handling his job as president?

APPROVE

51%

DISAPPROVE

48%

SOURCE: Washington Post-ABC News poll. . The Washington Post-ABC News tracking poll is a series of consecutive one-night "waves" of interviews reported as a rolling, multi-night average. The fifteenth release is for interviews conducted by telephone Nov. 1-4, 2012, among a random national sample of 3,205 adults, including conventional landline and cell phone-only respondents. Results for the sample of 2,345 likely voters have a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points. Sampling, data collection and tabulation by Abt-SRBI of New York. 2008 comparisons from network exit polls.
POLLING: Scott Clement, Jon Cohen and Peyton M. Craighill | GRAPHIC: Laura Stanton and Sisi Wei - The Washington Post. Published Nov. 5, 2012.