Any potential electoral map to the White House might be getting a little trickier for Mitt Romney.
The latest NBC/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll didn’t bring welcome news to the Republican presidential candidate as it showed him trailing President Barack Obama in the key swing states of Ohio, Florida and Virginia.
The survey, which followed the two weeks of party conventions, had President Obama ahead by seven points in the crucial battle ground of Ohio and by five points in both Florida and Virginia.
President Obama carried all three states in 2008, but things figure to much closer this time around as he seeks re-election.
The polls were taken from Sept. 9 through Sept. 11, echoing several other national surveys have indicated a significant convention bump for the president. Romney’s campaign has downplayed the recent numbers, saying the media was reading too much into the post-campaign “sugar high.”
The Florida and Virginia numbers weren’t such a wide divide.
But the numbers in Ohio roughly match up with recent internal surveys conducted by both Democrats and Republicans recently in a state where Romney’s campaign knows it has a battle.
The auto bailout and the ads from the pro-Obama super PAC slamming Romney’s business record have clearly had an impact.
Romney, who hasn’t helped himself as of late with a series of unforced gaffes, needs a couple of things to happen, including a mistake by the president either in office or at next month’s debates.
In other survey news, President Obama is leading Romney in Colorado by 5 points, according to an Onsight Public Affairs and Project New America survey of the state taken since the conventions.
Obama received 49 percent, while Romney took 44 percent, and only a 1-point changed from an August survey.
The poll showed Obama making some gains with unaffiliated voters, while he continues to hold a lead with Hispanic voters.
The state, based on the numbers, remains competitive however.
