On the eve of a crucial debate between the US President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney, a new poll has suggested that the race to the White House is a dead heat nationally.

The average of seven non-partisan, live operator, national surveys conducted entirely after the first debate on October 3 indicates that while Obama has a support of 47 per cent, Romney carries a support of 48 percent, the CNN said yesterday.

“The new poll shows the race has snapped back to the fundamentals. The margin of comfort Obama enjoyed in September is gone; it was based on voters who were dissatisfied with his performance but didn’t see Romney as a viable alternative,” CNN’s Senior Political Analyst and National Journal Editorial Director Ron Brownstein said.

“Clearly at the first debate, Romney crossed that threshold for many of those voters. Which means we are back in a race that is structurally close, and linked tightly toward Obama’s performance,” he added.

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