Ahead of tonight’s televised veep showdown, Patrick Murray’s Monmouth Polling Institute now finds Mitt Romney leading President Obama by 1-point, 47% to 46%. Murray’s findings are consistent with other post-debate surveys, and represents a 4-point swing in Romney’s favor since the last Monmouth survey.
Unsurprisingly, Murray sees a close race down the final stretch:
There is no question that the electorate is extremely volatile. Many of the polling shifts we see now are within the margin of error and reflect just how close this race is. There is no doubt that the candidates’ performances in the first debate changed the underlying dynamic of this race, benefitting Mitt Romney across the board.”
Buoying Murray’s thesis? He found that almost 6 of 10 likely voters watched the entire first debate and (surprise!) 6 of 10 now feel they know more about Mitt’s plans for the presidency. The correlation is clear enough.
You can read the complete polling report and data tables here (pdf).