The race between President Obama and Mitt Romney is deadlocked among likely voters in the Nov. 6 general election, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll slated to be released on Sunday.
The poll also shows Obama with a slight advantage among a wider universe of registered voters; that finding, consistent with other surveys, suggests that if Republicans are successful in denying Obama a second term, it will be driven in part by a turnout advantage over the Democrats.
Obama and Romney are tied among likely voters in the poll, each with 47 percent of the vote, according to the websites of both news organizations. Among all registered voters, Obama holds an apparent lead over Romney, 49 percent to 44 percent.
The poll also shows a significant gender gap, with Romney leading among male voters likely to cast ballots, 53 percent to 43 percent, while Obama leads among females, 51 percent to 43 percent.
Senior Obama adviser David Axelrod dismissed the poll Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press, pointing out that NBC has sponsored polls this week showing the president with a sizable lead in battleground states Iowa and Wisconsin. Axelrod said he is more focused on early voting, which he says has favored Obama, than public polling, which he called "all over the map."
