Republican Presidential Nominee Mitt Romney
Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, shown here, appears to have stolen the lead from Democratic President Barack Obama at this point in the election cycle, according to right-leaning Rasmussen Reports. Reuters

President Barack Obama appears to be losing ground to his Republican challenger Mitt Romney in the critical swing state of Ohio, according to new presidential polling data.

A survey released by right-leaning Rasmussen Reports on Monday, showed Romney garnering 50 percent support among likely voters in the Buckeye State, while Obama is not too far behind with 48 percent. The survey of 750 likely voters conducted on Oct. 28 has a 4 percent margin of error.

This is good news for team Romney, as it is the first time in recent weeks that the presidential polls show him with a lead in that state. Just last week, Rasmussen had the two tied at 48 percent.

But who is truly leading in that battleground state depends on where you are looking since the candidates have been locked in a tight battle there for the past three months.

Left-leaning Public Policy Polling finds Obama has a 4-percentage point advantage over Romney in Ohio, 51 to 47 percent.

Still, Real Clear Politics average of all the polling data shows the President with a narrow lead, 48.6 to Romney’s 46.7 percent.

Thirty-two percent of Ohio voters have already cast their ballots, according to Rasmussen’s data and Obama leads 62 percent to 36 percent among those voters.

No Republican has ever lost Ohio and won the presidency.

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