Mitt Romney leads Barack Obama by two points in North Carolina, according to a new poll by the Democratic-leaning firm PPP. Forty-eight percent of respondents support Romney, compared with 46 percent for Obama in a state the president won in 2008 by just over 12,000 votes.
North Carolina is currently the site of the Democratic convention later this year.
Romney has increasingly performed better in North Carolina, where he was trailing Obama just two months ago and where the former Massachusetts governor is now statistically tied with Obama among independents. Here’s more from PPP:
Romney’s gained 7 points on Obama in North Carolina since April, when the President led by a 49-44 margin. Since then Romney’s erased what was a 51-38 lead for Obama with independents and taken a 42-41 lead with that voting group. He’s also increased his share of the Democratic vote from 15% to 20%, suggesting he’s convincing some more conservative voters within the party to cross over.
Voters in the state have significantly warmed up to Romney in the couple of months since he sewed up the Republican nomination. 41% of voters have a favorable opinion of him to 46% with a negative one. Those numbers still aren’t great but they represent a 24 point improvement on the margin from April when Romney was at a -29 spread (29/58).
According to the RealClearPolitics average of general election polls for North Carolina, the Tarheel State appears to be trending Romney’s way.
