Mitt Romney's path to victory is narrowing, new polling datasuggest, presenting challenges for the Republican nominee at amoment when he is trying to rebound from a week of badheadlines by refocusing on federal spending.
President Barack Obama has opened an eight percentage-pointlead in Iowa and maintains a five-point edge in Colorado andWisconsin, according to Wall Street Journal/NBC News/Marist Poll surveys of the three presidentialbattlegrounds released Thursday.
The new poll results are significant in part because the Romney campaign had hoped to use thethree states as steppingstones to an Electoral College majority, given Mr. Romney's slippage inpolls of two of the largest battlegrounds, Ohio and Virginia.
The margin of error in the polls for likely voters was plus or minus 3.1 percentage points inColorado, 3.2 points in Wisconsin and 3.3 points in Iowa.
The new Journal surveys were taken just as video surfaced earlier this week of Mr. Romney tellingdonors that nearly half the country 'sees themselves as victims' and dependent on government.
Coming amid other poll data, the new results show Mr. Romney with ground to make up in a largenumber of states amid a shrinking pool of undecided voters. One measure of the hurdle he faces: Even if Mr. Romney were awarded all the states in which the president leads by less than threepercentage points in aggregated poll results -- states such as Colorado, Florida and Iowa -- Mr. Obama would still win re-election based on his leads in Ohio, Virginia and smaller swing states.
The results come as public opinion is on the verge of turning into votes cast at the ballot box. Sofar, on-the-ground data from two early voting states, Iowa and North Carolina, is mixed for thetwo candidates. In North Carolina, Republicans have requested nearly 7,000 more absenteeballots than Democrats, out of nearly 50,000 requests, according to state officials.
But in Iowa, Democrats have requested roughly 100,000 ballots, compared with 16,073 ballotsrequested by Republicans.
The Romney camp dismisses most of the recent polling as a 'sugar high' for Mr. Obama left overfrom the party conventions. Among other factors, they point to polling that shows Republicanshold a modest edge in voter enthusiasm and data that shows a large percentage of Americans stillthink the country is moving in the wrong direction.
In all three of the new Journal surveys, Mr. Obama had backing from at least 50% of likely voters, suggesting that Mr. Romney will have to strip supporters from the president to win. In Iowa, Mr. Obama held 50% of the vote to 42% for Mr. Romney. Mr. Obama led his GOP rival 50% to 45% in Colorado and Wisconsin.
新的民调数据显示，美国共和党候选人罗姆尼(Mitt Romney)的胜选之路日益逼仄。在罗姆尼重新聚焦联邦财政支出、力图摆脱一个星期的负面报道之际，民调结果又给他带来了新的挑战。
据《华尔街日报》、NBC News和Marist Poll对三个大选战场的调查，总统奥巴马(Barack Obama)在艾奥瓦州领先罗姆尼八个百分点，在科罗拉多州和威斯康星州各维持五个百分点的优势。调查结果是在周四公布的。
新的民调结果之所以重要，一部分原因在于，由于罗姆尼在俄亥俄州和弗吉尼亚州这两重要战场的民调结果下滑，他的阵营曾指望借助上述三个州取得选举人团多数地位。
在这次针对拟投票选民展开的调查中，科罗拉多州、威斯康星州、艾奥瓦州的误差范围分别是正负3.1个百分点、正负3.2个百分点和正负3.3个百分点。
《华尔街日报》等开展这轮新调查的时候，正逢本周早前一段视频曝光，显示罗姆尼对捐款人说，全国近一半的人以受害者自居，并依赖政府的恩惠。
新结果显示，在摇摆选民越来越少的时候，罗姆尼在很多州都需要提高支持率。有一个情况可见他面临的障碍：即使罗姆尼全部赢得汇总民调结果中奥巴马领先优势不到三个百分点的州，比如科罗拉多、佛罗里达和艾奥瓦，奥巴马以他在俄亥俄、弗吉尼亚和一些较小摇摆州的领先优势，还是会实现连任。
调查结果公布之时，民意即将变成选票投进票箱。到目前为止，艾奥瓦和北卡罗来纳这两个提前投票州的实地数据对两位候选人有好有坏。北卡罗莱纳州官员说，该州接近5万人申请缺席选票，其中共和党人申请量比民主党人多出近7,000张。
但在艾奥瓦州，民主党人申请量约为10万张，共和党人申请量只有16,073张。
罗姆尼阵营表示，多数最新民调结果不过是体现了民主党集会留下的狂热情绪。他们的理由包括，有调查显示共和党享有的选民热情略占优势，还有数据显示很大一部分美国人依旧认为美国是在朝错误的方向前进。
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