(CNN) - CNN Monday turned the important battleground state of North Carolina from "lean Romney" to true "toss up" on its Electoral Map, following the release of a new CNN/Time Magazine/ORC International poll that indicated the race for the state's 15 electoral votes was a dead heat.
The move by CNN comes one week before the Democratic convention kicks off in Charlotte, North Carolina.
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The poll, released earlier on Monday, indicates it's all knotted up in the Tar Heel state, with 48% of likely voters supporting Republican challenger Mitt Romney and 47% backing President Barack Obama.
Other polls from other organizations conducted earlier this summer also indicated a close contest in North Carolina.
"It's hard to imagine the perfect storm that helped then Sen. Obama narrowly carry the state in 2008. But at the moment the polling shows a tossup, and both campaigns say their numbers are in the same ballpark as our survey," says CNN Chief National Correspondent John King. "That, plus all the attention Democrats are about to give the state, gives us ample reason to move North Carolina to tossup."
"It's a must win for Romney, and even top Obama aides privately say it is a lot harder to see it going blue this time. But Romney can't take it for granted and the poll backs up what we see in the recent ad wars in North Carolina: It's a tight battleground," adds King.
Obama was the first Democrat to carry the state in a presidential election since 1976.
North Carolina now becomes the ninth state CNN considers a true toss up, joining Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin. CNN considers Michigan, New Mexico, and Pennsylvania as states that lean towards Obama, with Arizona, Indiana, and Missouri as states that lean towards Romney.
With North Carolina's move to true "toss up," the CNN Electoral Map now suggests Obama leading in states with a combined 237 electoral votes, Romney ahead in states with a combined 191 electoral votes, and states with 110 electoral votes are up for grabs. Two-hundred and seventy electoral votes are needed with win the White House.
- CNN's Political Editor Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
Almost every Romney supporting comment here has included slurs and insults against Obama, while not mentioning any specific problems beyond he’s a socialist or he’s raising the debt. Is that some type of posting requirement you republicans have here?
Thank you Todd Akin for revealing the true intentions of the Republican party regarding women's issues.
Has anyone else commented that ALL the red states touch each other? That cannot be said for the blue or swing states.
Is Karl Rove up to something here? It's kind of creepy if you ask me.
This Randy guy who keeps posting is a typical tea bagger. Doesn't even know what socialism is, but says it because he's the usual tea bagger racist.
I really hope we don't have another hotly-contested election, like we did in 2000, where the election is in dispute so that we have to make another phony War.
Romneyhood ............ Give to the rich and take from the poor
Whoever's in charge of this board totally sucks
Women using abortion as family planning, shameful
What Romney is not telling people, is he made a good portion of money through significant investment in Stericycle; a company that makes it's money through the disposing of aborted fetuses. This is the real reason he wont release his tax return, because it will reveal this.
Will evangelical Christians still turn a blind eye and vote for Romney when they learn this?
This is a very close race as of now, however the downfall for Romney will be the debates.
He will have to defend his lies and finacial intrests and war on women. That's going to be tough for him.
Obama/Biden win big in 2012! Reactionary theocratic republicans lose monentum, bad news for white republican politicians in the future as future white politicians will have the stigma of a failed disasterous Bush administration to deal with. Right?
Massachusetts 47 th in job creation when Romney was governor. 3steps from the bottom.What makes everyone think he's going to do a better job than Obama? A lot of repub propaganda.
Romneyhood ............. Give to the rich take from the poor
sure are alot of democrat idiots posting in this thread. astroturf?
I just played CNN's electoral map game and Romney won big time.
if you are truly an evangelical Christian, you are betraying the teaching of Christ by voting for romney. tgoogle top cults in the U.S. and you will see that Mormonism lists at the very top. that's just the facts. they distort the word of Christ and place joe smith an equal. If you are not a Christian and voting for romney, that is your choice. google top cults and face the truths for yourself
There are a lot of dumb people out there so one can expect Romney to get a lot of votes; hopefully many of them will smarten up before the election.
To Randy, DEbby and DEMSMUSTGO: I hope you all make 10 million or more a year, because only individuals or families with that sort of income will benefit from a new president. The candidate states that "I care about America and I want to bring about a change" yet according to the Interview with him by FoxNEWS, when Chris Wallace asked "You have been running to be a president for 8 years; why didnt you just close all your swiss accounts, cayman Island accounts and other offshore accounts and invest the money in the USA"? He did not have an answer!!
Having North Carolina host the DNC may be the deciding factor. Very smart
Having Florida host the RNC 1 week after you name Paul "gonna kill Medicare" Ryan as you VP pick.....not smart.
gop=christian taliban=seeking Theological States of America
I've never seen a presidential candidate as unappealing & uncaring as Romney. I hope & pray that voters in N. Carolina & the other toss-up states recognize that Romney is running to empower & make wealthier those who are already rich beyond most folks' imaginations.
Likely voters. Wonder what would happen if they only polled registered voters? Anyone can say they are likely to vote.
I think all this polling at this time is nonsense and will be somewhat more accurate in reality terms :-
a) After both conventions.
b) Then just prior to the first debates.
Often when people look at your maps as above they think in terms of the overall picture as being disclosed not that its how the presidential vote will go. so while the CNN map may be OK Re presidential vote ( other maps disagree) what is more relevant in the end?
The key in 2012 in the end will be how many 2010 elected tea partiers remain in the House of representatives and whether the dems can hold the Senate.
The real answer to the presidential result turns on how many of the tea party representatives up for grabs get kicked out or not. if significant numbers are kicked out then it will not be as close as our pundits indicate both presidentially and congresionally... that would be an OBAMA biden landslide. If they are not kicked out mostly it will be tight presidentially, but we will still have apor balance in the whole congress to achieve the quick results we Americans demand, but is unachievable by either side at this time for multiple reasons fiscal cliiff and many others.
Regards,
Hodgson.
Finally! People are waking up! There is no HATE involved. People are waking up to the fact that this administration is destroying our country. The masses have voted against gay marriage and Obama has basically told us that our vote does not matter. The masses have voted against the holocost of late term government funded abortions but Obama has repeatedly called it a womens right to force me to pay for the murder of her child. He has secretly and underhandedly made agreements with Chinese and Russian leaders for nuclear reduction. He has destroyed NASA and is taking the same road to destroy our military. He is a communist. We have one chance to save our country. If he is elected him, pelosi and reid will go full force and turn our nation into a welfare state.
Shine the light on Romney, you wont like what you see.