Poll | featured news

This evening, one of the more influential national polls, from NBC News and the Wall Street Journal, will release its latest findings. If it reports some of the same weakness for Obama as the recent New York Times-CBS News poll did, we can conclude the race has shifted in Romney's favor.

A pair of fresh polls is showing familiar results: The presidential race is essentially a dead heat. A New York Times/CBS poll released Thursday shows Mitt Romney’s support at 47% of registered voters, with President Obama at 46%. A Fox News poll Obama at 45% and Romney at 41%. Both results are within the polls’ margins of error and show very little movement from surveys taken earlier in the summer.

In a campaign fast growing nasty, the Republican National Committee is trying a gentler approach... Several Republicans who weren't involved in making the ad say a softer approach may be essential to the effort to defeat Obama in November, given polls showing him with strong personal favorability ratings. The ad is airing in Ohio, Virginia, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Colorado and Iowa.

Americans support raising taxes on the rich by a two-to-one margin, with many believing an increase would both help the economy and make the tax system fairer, according to a Pew poll released Monday afternoon. Forty-four percent of adults surveyed said that raising taxes on incomes above $250,000 would help the economy and increase fairness, while 22 percent said it would hurt the economy and 21 percent that it would make the system less fair.

Substantial prejudice still exists for both Mormons and African Americans, despite shifting views on both groups since Barack Obama and Mitt Romney first ran for president four years ago.

Citing a poll conducted by Global Strategy Group and Garin-Hart-Yang Research Group in the battleground states of Colorado, Ohio, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Florida, Priorities USA claimed that more voters say Romney’s experience at Bain makes them less likely to vote for him, 37% to 27%. Claiming that its own anti-Bain ads are working, Priorities USA pointed out that in the 11 markets they’ve advertised in within those five states, Obama leads Romney by eight points (49% to 41%) compared with a three-point lead in those without the ads (46% to 43%).

A Gallup Poll shows 20% of voters say Mitt Romney's wealth makes them less likely to vote for the Republican... "Enough Americans generally and independents specifically say Romney's wealth makes them less likely to vote for him that it could in theory make a difference at the margins in some key swing states," writes Frank Newport, Gallup's editor in chief.

Voter support for President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul has increased following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling upholding it, although majorities still oppose it, a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Sunday showed. Among all registered voters, support for the law rose to 48 percent in the online survey conducted after Thursday's ruling, up from 43 percent before the court decision. Opposition slipped to 52 percent from 57 percent.

Americans are split down the middle on the Supreme Court's decision to uphold President Obama's health care law.

Americans find both President Obama and Republican opponent Mitt Romney likable -- Obama more so, reports the Gallup Poll. Presented with a list of eight personal characteristics that could describe the candidates, 81% of respondents said Obama "is likable;" 64% said the same of Romney.