GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has had a good Monday morning so far, and, if he can manage to keep his yapper shut, he might even have a good couple of days leading into the highly-anticipated debates this week. Not only did Romney wake up to news that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez endorses his opponent , President Barack Obama (hint: we usually don’t want what Chavez wants), he woke up to some good poll news which suggested that he’s not trailing Obama as dramatically as earlier reports suggested .
A new Politico /George Washington University Battleground poll and a Washington Post / ABC survey show that President Barack Obama leads Romney by a measly two points among likely voters: 49 percent to 47 percent. Additionally, these numbers haven’t changed much since both were last taken, meaning that, despite all of the gaffes and missteps by the Romney campaign in the past several weeks, the race is still tight.
Despite a thin disadvantage overall, the interior polls show Romney picking up some steam. He leads by four points with Independents and has cinched a slim lead over Obama on voter faith regarding how best to handle the economy. Voters are also still quite sour on the state of the economy, with more voters confident that Romney would be able to turn the situation around in just two years.
But is Romney’s minor lead this morning too little too late? Is it a poll spike, or will he be able to turn his campaign around and win the election?
On NBC Sunday’s Meet the Press , host David Gregory asked New Jersey Governor Chris Christie these exact questions. Christie suggested that just as President Obama gained a quick and clear lead in the nine crucial swing states, Romney can quickly swing the pendulum back the other way:
“I think the beginning of that is Wednesday night when Governor Romney for the first time gets on the same stage with the President of the United States and people can make a direct comparison about them and their visions for the future. And Wednesday night is the restart of this campaign and I think you’re going to see those numbers start to move right back in the other direction.”
Do you think that Mitt Romney still has a shot at the presidency? Does it all hinge on debate performance as Chris Christie suggested?