NEC Poll: NH in a Dead Heat

The inaugural New England College Poll finds a statistical tie in both the presidential race and the gubernatorial race in New Hampshire.

The NEC poll of 571 likely voters has President Obama at 48.7 percent to Mitt Romney at 45.5 percent, with 2.1 percent for another candidate, and 3.7 percent undecided. That's within the 4.1 percent margin of error.

It's an even closer race in the fight to become New Hampshire's 81st governor. Likely voters polled Oct. 23 to Oct. 25 were split 45 percent for each candidate, Republican Ovide Lamontagne and Democrat Maggie Hassan. Libertarian John Babiarz gathered 1 percent, and there were 9 percent undecided.

Here's what Wayne Lesperance, director of the Center for Civic Engagement at NEC in Henniker, N.H., had to say about it:

“New Hampshire is a battleground state at multiple levels on the ballot. We sought the most likely voters for this poll in order to get the best sample of who will turnout in this election. What we found was high interest from respondents and two razor thin margins in bothof these races.”

In other words, buckle up–the home stretch is going to be a wild ride.

– Dan Tuohy

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