Barack Obama Leads Mitt Romney Narrowly In New Poll

President Barack Obama holds a narrow lead over Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential race, according to a new CNN poll released Friday afternoon, but the lead falls within the poll's margin of error.

The poll, conducted by ORC International, finds Obama leading Romney 49 percent to 46 percent among registered voters surveyed. The margin of error is 3.5 percentage points among registered voters. The president's lead has narrowed from the nine percentage point lead he held in CNN's previous poll, conducted in mid-April.

Obama supporters were more likely than Romney supporters to say they supported their candidate strongly -- 62 percent of Obama supporters said they supported him strongly, compared with only 47 percent of Romney supporters who said the same. Romney edged Obama among independents, 51 percent to 39 percent.

Other surveys of the presidential race have generally found it to be close, but HuffPost Pollster's current trend estimate has Obama narrowly ahead, 46.5 percent to 45 percent:

Fifty-two percent of adults surveyed said they approved of the job Obama was doing as president, while 47 percent disapproved.

Adults were equally divided on which candidate they felt better understands how the economy works, at 45 percent each. Obama edged Romney on understanding the problems faced by ordinary Americans, 55 percent to 34 percent.

The survey also found that more voters said they would support a Democratic candidate than a Republican candidate for Congress, by a 48 percent to 45 percent margin.

The survey was conducted May 29-30 among 1,009 adults contacted via live telephone interviews over landlines and cell phones, including 895 registered voters. The margin of error among all adults is 3 percentage points, and among registered voters it is 3.5 percentage points.