New Pew Poll Shows Romney And Obama Pulling Even With Women Voters

A new poll by the Pew Research Center shows President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are pulling even with likely women voters. Prior to the first presidential debate, President Obama had a double-digit lead among female voters. When the polling agency conducted the same poll in September, the president led the Republican challenger by 18 points. Taking into account the margin of error, the two White House hopefuls are neck-and-neck with the female demographic.

The Pew poll was comprised of 31 percent Democrats, 30 percent independent voters, and 36 percent Republicans, according to the Washington Post. In the similar poll conducted in September, the percentage of independent voters remained the same, but there were slightly more Democrats and fewer Republicans surveyed.

Both the Pew poll and a similar survey by Gallup declared Romney the debate winner by a large margin, possibly indicating the performances at the podium influenced likely women voters. The overall Pew findings among both male and female registered voters indicated the presidential candidates are in a dead heat.

An Obama campaign official had this to say to Fox News about the latest Pew polling data:

“The state of the race is what it has been, which is a close and competitive race in key states, with a slight lean toward the president.”

The political survey data also indicated that President Obama’s approval rating fell from 55 to 49 percent and Mitt Romney’s rose to 50 percent for the first time. Issues which likely voters polled consider Romney is most adept at tackling include the budget deficit and the economy. Poll participants declared that both men are equally strong leaders. When the same question was posed during the September Pew Research Center poll, President Obama led by 13 points.