Obama, Romney neck in neck in U.S. presidential race – polls

PanARMENIAN.Net - Polls suggest President Barack Obama holds only a small, perhaps meaningless, lead over Republican rival Mitt Romney in the race for the White House as he awaits a new jobs report, Belfast Telegraph said.

With unemployment remaining high, Mr Obama and Mr Romney are running neck and neck with no sign that either can break away, as the race enters a final summer lull before the sprint to election day in November.

Both candidates are taking a break this week, which includes the July 4 holiday, with Mr Romney at his lakeside compound in New Hampshire and Mr Obama at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland.

"When it's a two or three-point race, that's not good for an incumbent president," said Republican strategist Rich Galen, who is not affiliated with Mr Romney's campaign.

"Obama's political career is totally dependent on Angela Merkel holding the eurozone together," he said, referring to the German chancellor and Europe's financial woes, which could further hurt the U.S. economy.

An eventful June began badly for Mr Obama. Poor job creation numbers followed news that Mr Romney's campaign was raising more money than his. Things got worse when Mr Obama told reporters "the private sector is doing fine" - a line now featured in countless Republican attack adverts.

Mr Obama was trying to contrast the private sector, which has seen steady but modest job growth, with the public sector, where budget cuts have led to teachers, police officers and other government employees made redundant.

The month ended better for the Democratic president. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down much of Arizona's strict anti-illegal immigration law, which his administration had opposed. Then the justices upheld Mr Obama's signature health care overhaul last week.

Mr Obama starts a two-day bus tour of Ohio and Pennsylvania, two crucial battleground states that could go either way in the state-by-state contests that decide the election, on Thursday.