Obama Leads over Romney in 3 Battleground StatesPresident Barack Obama leads over his Republican rival Mitt Romney in three battleground states. According to the latest polls among likely voters, President Obama tops Romney by seven percentage points in both Ohio and Virginia. He also has a five point lead in Florida. President Obama’s lead is outside the poll’s margin of sampling error in Virginia and Ohio and is within the margin of sampling error in Florida State.

But it is not all bad news for Romney. Among voters who are extremely interested in this year’s election, Obama is leading by a slim margin. President Obama is just two points over Romney among this group in Virginia. The race is tied in Florida. And Romney leads by one point in Ohio.

Independents are divided in the three states. Most of the voters are unhappy with the way things are happening in the nation but all three states say that they trust President Obama more than Romney to improve the economy.

More voters also believe that the Obama administration’s policies have helped improve the economy instead of hurting it but just by a small margin. With the turbulent situation in the Middle East, the polls show that President Obama is more trusted when it comes to foreign policy.

President Obama’s job approval rating as well as his personal favorability is 50 percent or higher in the three states. In Virginia and Ohio, the president’s favorable rating is 10 percentage points higher than Romney. In Florida, the president leads by 6 points. Supporters of President Obama said that they are more likely to say they strongly favor their candidate.

Obama won in the three states in 2008. He won in Florida by 51 to 47 percent, Ohio by 52 to 46 percent, and Virginia by 52 to 47 percent. It was the first time since 1964 that a Democrat won in Virginia.