Polls show US presidential battle tightening

U.S. voters are nearly evenly divided between President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney with five months to go before the election, especially on handling the economy, polls show. With U.S. unemployment still hovering above 8 percent, both candidates have stepped up their emphasis on jobs and the economy. Obama and Romney have offered a starkly differing vision of how the economy should work as they appeal to voters who say jobs are the foremost issue in election. A new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows Obama and Romney locked in a dead heat over handling the economy. They are tied at 47 percent. Overall, 49 percent said they back Obama for re-election and 46 percent preferred Romney, a statistically insignificant difference. Other recent national polls show a similarly close margin. Earlier polls generally showed the former Massachusetts governor holding a slight lead over Obama on economic issues and Obama slightly ahead overall. But the tightening follows an aggressive attack on Romney’s business credentials by the Obama campaign, including ads painting him as a job-destroying corporate raider at Bain Capital, the private-equity firm he co-founded. Romney called the attacks “character assassination.” But Obama defended the tactic Monday as legitimate and suggested Romney’s background was a poor qualification for the White House since being president involves more than “maximizing profits.” Romney swept the Arkansas and Kentucky Republican presidential primaries Tuesday, inching closer to clinching the nomination. Romney has 1,034 delegates, leaving him 110 shy of the 1,144 delegates needed to win the nomination at the Republican National Convention in late August in Florida. With no serious opposition left in the state-by-state Republican primary race, Romney has long been focusing on fundraising for the general election and his campaign against Obama. An NBC-Wall Street Journal poll, meanwhile, suggested that Obama’s endorsement of gay marriage two weeks ago was a political wash, with 17 percent saying it makes them more likely to vote for him and 20 percent saying it makes them more likely to vote for Romney, who opposes gay marriage. Sixty two percent said it makes no difference in their vote.