By Paul Steinhauser
CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (CNN) — As the Democratic National Convention gets underway in Charlotte, a new poll indicates Mitt Romney has a slight advantage in this battleground state.
According to an Elon University/Charlotte Observer/Raleigh News & Observer survey released Monday, the Republican presidential nominee holds a 47%-43% advantage over President Barack Obama among likely voters in North Carolina. The GOP challenger’s four point margin over Obama is within the poll’s sampling error. The survey was conducted August 25-30, just before and during Republican Convention in Tampa, Florida.
A CNN/Time Magazine/ORC International poll released one week ago, before the start of the Republican Convention, indicated a dead heat, with Romney at 48% and the president at 47% among likely voters in the Tar Heel State.
The Democratic Convention kicks off in Charlotte officially on Tuesday.
According to the survey, Romney has a 52%-39% when it comes to which candidate would do a better job on the economy. The poll also indicates Romney has a 12-point lead among male voters, with the candidates basically tied among female voters. Obama had a double digit advantage among women in last week’s CNN poll.
Obama narrowly won North Carolina four years ago, the first Democrat to carry the state in a presidential election since 1976. Fifteen electoral votes are up for grabs in the state.
The Elon University/Charlotte Observer/Raleigh News & Observer survey was conducted by telephone, with 1,089 likely voters in North Carolina questioned by telephone. The survey’s sampling error is plus or minus three percentage points.
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