WASHINGTON — A presidential race that has been neck-and-neck for months suddenly isn’t.
In the week after the political conventions ended, President Obama has opened the most significant, sustained lead in the daily Gallup Poll since Mitt Romney emerged as the Republican nominee last spring. Disappointing unemployment statistics released last Friday haven’t stemmed Obama’s rise, and Romney’s sharp criticism of the president in recent days during the unfolding crisis in Libya has opened a new line of partisan attack against the challenger.
With 53 days and three presidential debates to go, strategists in both parties say there’s time for Romney to recover lost ground, especially with an electorate deeply dissatisfied with the direction of the country and the state of the economy. But even some Republican political analysts warn that the former Massachusetts governor faces a political landscape that has become steeper as the campaign heads into the home stretch.
The Gallup Poll showed Obama leading Romney 50%-44% Thursday among registered voters. A Fox News poll Wednesday also had Obama ahead, 48%-43%, among likely voters.
The two candidates had been locked within 2 percentage points of each other in the daily Gallup survey since July. Neither had held a lead of as much as 5 points since June.
