New PA GOP Poll Has Romney One Point Away From Obama

Harrisburg Patriot-News

A new internal poll by the Pennsylvania Republican Party claims the GOP nominee Mitt

Romney now trails President Barack Obama by a single point.

The poll, conducted by Susquehanna Polling and Research, finds Obama drawing 48 percent of Pennsylvanians, while Romney garners 47 percent.

The results will help state party leaders convince Romney campaign officials to ratchet up their efforts in the state and buy vital television ad time. The campaign has not been on the air in Pennsylvania since April.

Though rare for party officials to discuss internal polls publicly, state GOP Chairman Rob Gleason is so excited by the turnaround that he’s conducting a news conference Thursday morning to trumpet the poll’s findings.

In a just completed conference call with county chairs and other prominent Pennsylvania party figures, Gleason could not contain his enthusiasm.

“Gleason was obviously pumped up,” said a GOP official on the call who spoke on condition of anonymity. “The people who asked questions were excited. There no naysayers. It was all positive.”

Previous independent polls have maintained Obama’s margin was 8 points, and a Morning Call/Muhlenberg College poll released Wednesday had Obama holding a 9 point lead.

But prominent state GOP figures have argued for weeks that their internal polls showed a much closer race.

“The shrinkage of the numbers is because the undecideds are breaking towards Romney,” the GOP official said, adding that Romney has also been aided by the recent unrest in the Muslim world directed towards the United States

“There was also some uptick for Romney as a result of the international stuff,” the official said.

Read more: http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2012/09/new_pa_gop_poll_has_romney_one.html