Presidential Polls: Obama Opens Lead In Virginia, Race Tightens In Ohio, Florida

President Barack Obama has opened up a small lead on Mitt Romney in Virginia and continues to edge out his challenger in the swing states of Ohio and Florida, where the race remains tight, according to new presidential polls.

While Obama maintains the lead in those three battleground states, Romney is holding the advantage in Colorado, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released Thursday.

In the Reuters survey, Obama has a 5 percentage point lead in Virginia among likely voters, 49 percent to 44 percent. In Ohio and Florida, the incumbent’s advantage is much smaller though, only a 2 percentage point lead.

In Florida, Obama has 48 percent support, with Romney holding 46 percent. In Ohio, Obama leads 47 percent to 45 percent over Romney, according to Reuters.

Taking a look at Real Clear Politics’ polling average, the challenger is the one leading the incumbent in Florida, 49.1 to 47.9 percent. Obama’s Ohio lead is right on the mark in both polls though, as RCP’s average showed the president is on top 48.9 to 46.6 percent.

National Race Tied Up

With only four days to go before Americans cast ballots, the national race is tied in many polls.

The RCP average of the polls showed Obama with a minuscule advantage, 47.4 to 47.3 for Romney. Looking closely at some of the individual polls, one sees a statistical dead heat with either candidate beating the other by 1 or 2 percentage points – well within the margin of error.

On Thursday, the right-leaning Rasmussen Reports’ daily Presidential Tracking Poll had the advantage to Romney, with support from 49 percent of voters nationwide. President Obama was behind in that poll with 47 percent.

Only 1 percent indicated a preference for some other candidate while 3 percent are still on the fence.