Washington Post polls: Obama lead in Ohio, edge in Fla. hamper Romney path to victory

Among likely voters, Obama is ahead of Romney in Ohio by 52 to 44 percent. In Florida, the president is up 51 to 47 percent, a numerical but not statistically significant edge. Among all registered Florida voters, Obama is up nine percentage points.

The new numbers come one week after a Washington Post poll in Virginia showing Obama with a clear lead there. More than half of all money spent in the campaign has focused on these three states, and many analysts say Romney has to win two of the three to capture the White House.

The past few weeks have been difficult for the Romney campaign, and the nominee’s  advisers vowed to hit the reset button this week. But with the first debate scheduled for Oct. 3, the Romney is under new pressure to get his campaign refocused.

The new polls add to the evidence that Obama has benefited most from the two parties’ conventions, a series of sharp, long-distance exchanges and a barrage of television ads. Nationally, polls continue to show a close race, but with new-found momentum for Obama in the battleground states that are likely to decide the election.

There are few plausible ways for Romney to win the election were he to lose both Florida and Ohio; even losing one of them would make a path to victory exceedingly narrow. No Republican has won the White House without winning Ohio, for example, and Florida, with its 29 electoral votes, may be even more vital to Romney’s hopes.

Both campaigns had thought of Florida as potentially more hospitable to Romney than to the president. Obama’s competitive standing there — benefiting, as he also did in the Virginia poll, from a huge lead among female voters — spotlights Romney’s recent struggles. For its part, Ohio has been the scene of hard-fought campaigns the past three elections and is widely seen as a barometer of economic stress.

Obama’s lead in Ohio is built in part on generally positive assessments of his job performance, and on head-to-head comparisons with Romney on a series of issues. Slightly more than half of all Ohio voters  — 53 percent — give Obama positive marks for in dealing with the economy, with more — 56 percent approving of his overall performance.

Fully 36 percent of all Ohio voters say they have been contacted by the Obama campaign;  29 percent say they have been contacted by the Romney side.

Matched against Romney, 50 percent of all voters say they trust the president more to deal with the economy; 43 percent say so of his Republican challenger. By a much wider margin, 57 to 34 percent, registered voters in Ohio say Obama rather than Romney better understands the economic problems that people are facing. Obama also holds a big lead over Romney on who is trusted to advance the interests of the middle class.

Jsais: YaY!!! Love this guy.  At the end of the day, Obama is a leader with integrity, a Moral Leader……….Romney can’t win beside him…period!