Obama And Mitt Romney In Dead Heat In Florida And Ohio: Poll

President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are virtually tied in two of the quintessential swing states, a new poll finds. Obama leads Romney by a relatively comfortable margin in the third.

On Thursday morning, Quinnipiac University released its latest batch of swing state polls. They show Romney ahead of Obama 44 percent to 43 percent in Florida, Obama ahead of Romney 44 percent to 42 percent in Ohio, and Obama beating Romney 47 percent to 39 percent in Pennsylvania.

The numbers represent a narrowing of previous results, which showed the president with a good cushion in all three states. According to Quinnipiac, the reason for the tightening race is two-fold: a Republican base that has accepted Romney as its nominee and lingering concerns about the state of the economy. Romney is viewed as more likely to turn around the situation than the president.

This new batch of polls also appears to reflect the national surveys being conducted by other polling companies, which have (more consistently than the state polls) shown a tighter contest between the nominees.

The one good sliver of news for Obama is the lead in Pennsylvania, which is often cited by Republicans as a state they hope to bring into their camp. Romney has his work cut out for him there.