Obama up by 11 in Pennsylvania poll

Washington, DC, United States (4E) – A poll released by Philadelphia Inquirer on Saturday put President Barack Obama ahead of GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney by 11 points, 50 per cent to 39 per cent.

Obama’s 11-point edge is better than his 8-point advantage last month in the same poll where he edged Romney, 51 per cent to 42 per cent.

Obama leads Romney 47 per cent to 36 per cent among independent voters, and also enjoys a wide margin among female (52 per cent to 39 per cent) and male (46 per cent to 40 per cent) voters.

The new poll, which was conducted from September 9-12, also shows that a lot of voters in the state are aware of Pennsylvania’s new voter ID law with 80 per cent saying they are familiar with it where about half of them say they are very familiar. A large percentage of Pennsylvania voters (65 per cent) support the law despite strong opposition from Democrats.

The poll shows 68 per cent of respondents knew Romney’s Mormon faith, but many are not too sure about the president’s religion. Twenty-nine per cent have accurately answered that Obama is a protestant but 12 per cent say that he is a Muslim.

Obama’s favorable rating jumped by 3 points while his unfavorable rating fell by 6 per cent. There was a slight improvement in Romney’s popularity rating following the Republican National Convention, although he still has a 48 per cent unfavorable rating, higher than his 46 per cent favorable rating.

The 11-point gap shown in Pennsylvania’s first post-convention poll implies that the state could soon be removed from the list of battleground states.

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