Ohio: Neck and Neck

Two new polls indicate that contrary to the media hype, Ohio is now a toss-up between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama. The American Research poll, conducted between September 10-12, showed Obama ahead 47% to 46%. The latest Rasmussen poll shows exactly the same numbers.

There are positive subtexts for Romney in both polls. In the American Research poll, independents favored Romney by a whopping margin, 53% to 37%. This bodes well for Romney with those who remain undecided.  In the Rasmussen poll, voters said they trusted Romney on the economy more, which will ultimately prove pivotal, but the biggest edge they gave Obama was, strangely enough, on issues of national security. With the recent violence in the Middle East revealing Obama as feckless and weak, voters may be shifting in the near future in their opinions of Obama’s capabilities on foreign policy.

Ohio is up for grabs. And after the way Obama won Ohio handily in 2008, this will probably make the Nervous Nellies in the Obama White House a little Nellier.