Adding to the weight of post-debate polls hanging around the president's neck, a Reuters/Ipsos poll released Tuesday shows Republican challenger Mitt Romney tied with Obama at 45 percent among likely voters.
Just a few days ago, the president was leading in this same poll by 2 points.
"It's a much tighter race and Romney became much more presidential in people's eyes," said Cliff Young, a pollster for Ipsos. "Things are probably back to where they should be."
While some recent polls have been an aggregate of voter sentiment from both before and after the first debate, this poll was conducted between the fifth and ninth of October, long enough after the first debate for viewer disappointment to manifest.
The candidate are tied among "likely voters," a metric that depends on respondents to identify themselves are more inclined to actually head to the polls in November. While it's not a perfect measurement, it's been found to be more accurate at predicting results that just tallying up the answers from anyone who's willing to respond.
Among registered voters, a larger and less accurate sample, Obama still leads Romney by 3 points, 45-42 percent.
While poll data often shifts from day to day, other responses from the poll may present dangers for the president's campaign.
Romney is up on almost every metric and sentiment measured. More voters now think Romney is more likely than Obama to be effective in Washington, and by 4 points, 38-34 percent.
Romney leads by 4.6 percent on voters' opinions of his plan for the economy. Romney leads by 2.5 percent on job creation, and by a whopping 7.7 percent on the federal budget deficit.
Supporters of the president may take a little heart. Obama still leads Romney on taxes, likeability, eloquence and empathy, though Romney is closing those gaps.
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