Obama maintains slight lead in Ohio: poll

WASHINGTON - New poll results released Friday showed US President Barack Obama had a slight lead over Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in the most important battleground state of Ohio, just four days prior to the Election Day.

According to a CNN/ORC International survey, Obama holds a three-point advantage over Romney in the contest for Ohio's 18 electoral votes, with 50 percent of likely voters questioned in the poll saying they are backing the president, while 47 percent support the Romney, the former Massachusetts governor. Obama's three-point edge is within the survey's sampling error.

"The race in the Buckeye State has remained essentially the same throughout October, with all three CNN/ORC polls taken in October showing President Obama at 50-51 percent and all three showing Governor Romney at 46-47 percent," said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

The poll is also consistent with three other non-partisan, live operator surveys of Ohio likely voters also conducted entirely after last week's final presidential debate. The University of Cincinnati's Ohio Poll and an American Research Group survey both indicated Obama with two-point edges and a CBS News/New York Times/ Quinnipiac University poll indicated Obama with a five-point advantage. All of those margins were within the sampling errors of those polls.

Both campaign are holding multiple events in Ohio to increase their odds. The latest poll's release on Friday came on the same day when Obama held three campaigning events and  Romney staged two in Ohio.