Presidential Polls Affected By Hurricane Sandy, But Still Show Obama Holding Slim Edge

Presidential polls have been flying in during the last few weeks, with many pollsters surveying voters nationwide and in swing states daily. Those polls have now slowed in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, which impacted many of the polling companies based on the East Coast.

Polls on Tuesday came in at a much lighter volume than recently, but still showed Obama holding a slight edge in the electoral college projections. Though Mitt Romney has surged to tie or even lead many nationwide polls after his stellar first debate performance, Obama has held on to leads in the swing states needed to get him to 270 electoral votes and a re-election.

Though there were fewer polls on Tuesday, the ones that did come in showed that Obama may be losing this edge.

As Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight pointed out, Mitt Romney showed improvements in presidential polling of Ohio, which is necessary for him to win the presidency:

“President Obama had a mediocre day of polling in the battleground states. In particular, a Rasmussen Reports poll of Ohio showed him trailing Mitt Romney there by two percentage points. It was the first poll to show to him down in Ohio since a poll by a Rasmussen Reports affiliate, Pulse Opinion Research, on Oct. 15.

“Is this the sign of a shift toward Mr. Romney in Ohio?

“It’s probably premature to conclude that on the basis of this poll alone. With so many polling firms active in Ohio, any sustained trend toward Mr. Romney in the polls there should be reasonably apparent by late this week, although there may be some delays in the interim.”

Hurricane Sandy’s impact on the campaign went beyond presidential polls. President Obama shifted from campaigner to commander in chief as he canceled scheduled campaign stops in Ohio on Wednesday, The Huffington Post reported.