President Barack Obama has closed to within 3 points of Republican rival Mitt Romney in Gallup's daily tracking poll of likely voters, a swing of 2 points from Tuesday. Obama also took the lead among registered voters. Since Romney led by a campaign-high of 7 points on Sunday, Obama has cut the deficit to just 3 points with likely voters, suggesting some kind of bounce following the second debate.
Romney now leads the president, 50-47, among likely voters. With registered voters, Obama has taken a 48-47 lead, a reversal of Tuesday's numbers.
On Tuesday, Romney had maintained a big 5-point edge among likely voters over the president. Romney also led by a point among registered voters at 48-47.
Today's results include the seven-day average of last Wednesday through yesterday. That means the results feature all polling from after the candidates' second debate, including one day of polling from after the third and final debate on Monday.
In other tracking polls released today, Romney led by 4 points in Rasmussen's survey.
Significantly, Obama's approval rating jumped 2 points to 53 percent, well above the "safe" level for an incumbent's re-election. It nears the 54-percent level he reached earlier this month, which was the highest mark for the president in three years.
