And the CNN/ORC International survey not only indicates a dead heat in the race for the White House, but also on almost every major indicator of President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney that was tested in the poll.

Forty-nine percent of likely voters questioned say they support the president, with an equal amount saying they back the former Massachusetts governor.

The poll is the fourth national non-partisan, live operator survey released Sunday to indicate the battle for the presidency either a dead heat or virtually tied. A Politico/George Washington University survey has it tied at 48%; an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll indicates Obama at 48% and Romney at 47%; and the latest ABC News/Washington Post tracking poll puts Obama at 49% and Romney at 48%.

A Pew Research Center survey also released Sunday indicates the president at 50% and the GOP challenger at 47%, which is within the survey’s sampling error.

CNN’s final poll before Election Day indicates a gender gap.

“Fifty-three percent of women saying they plan to vote for President Obama compared to only 44% of men. That works out to a nine-point gender gap, which would be the largest since 1996,” says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. “On age, Obama is getting less support among younger voters than he did four years ago. But he manages a tie with Governor Romney among senior citizens — a group he lost to Senator McCain by eight points.”

According to the survey, Romney leads Obama 57%-40% among white voters. Obama tops Romney 56%-40% among voters making less than $50,000 per year, with Romney holding a 52%-47% edge among those making more than $50,000 per year.

The poll also indicates geographical divides, with the president leading in the Northeast, Midwest, and urban areas, and Romney ahead in the South, West, and suburban and rural areas.

It’s not just the horserace number that’s dividing American voters.

The president’s favorable rating stands at 52% in the poll, with Romney at 51%. Fifty-one percent say they agree with Obama on important issues and 50% say the same thing about Romney. Fifty-six percent say that Obama has the personal qualities a president should have, with 55% feeling the same about the Republican nominee.

Does either party have an edge on enthusiasm?

 According to the poll, the answer is no. Seventy-percent of registered voters who describe themselves as Democrats say they are extremely or very enthusiastic about voting, with an equal amount of self-described Republicans saying the same thing. Forty-nine percent say they will vote for the GOP candidate for Congress in their district; 48% say they will choose the Democrat.

But there are a few advantages for each candidate. On the one hand, the number of Americans who think things are going well in the country has risen 10 points since August, to 46% — the highest number since April, 2007.

But that doesn’t mean Americans are feeling better about the economy — seven in ten say it is in poor shape, unchanged since September. And more people say that the economy will improve if Romney is elected than feel that way about an Obama victory. And the economy remains the number-one issue on the minds of American voters, with 61% saying it’s extremely important to their vote. The deficit is second in importance at 55%, followed by health care at 51%, foreign policy at 47% and Medicare at 46%.

Obama’s approval rating is also over the magic 50% mark, but just barely: 51% of all Americans approve of how he is handling his job as president, which doesn’t give him a lot of breathing room.

While the president and Romney’s favorable ratings are nearly identical, the Democratic Party is viewed more favorably than the GOP.

“That’s something which might help Obama in an extremely close race,” says Holland. “Obama also has inevitability on his side: 57% say he will win another term, compared to only 36% who think Romney will win. And with only 4% saying that they might change their minds before Election Day, time is running out to make that closing argument.”

Other findings from the poll: Only 12% of Obama supporters say they’re casting their ballot as a vote against Romney. By comparison, 37% of Romney supporters say they’re casting their ballot as a vote against the president.

All 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 33 Senate seats are up for grabs on Tuesday. According to the poll, only 17% say they approve of how Congress is handling its job. Twenty-eight percent say they approve of how GOP leaders in Congress are handling their jobs, with 37% saying the same thing about Democratic congressional leaders.

The CNN poll was conducted November 2-4 by ORC International, with 1,010 adult Americans, including 918 registered voters and 693 likely voters, questioned by telephone. The survey’s sampling error for likely and registered voters is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

The poll’s findings are a shift from late September. when the same survey found Obama ahead of Romney– 50 percent to 46 percent.

The movement in Romney’s direction can be attributed to independents, who favored Obama 51 percent to 40 percent before the debate and now prefer Romney 51 percent to 43 percent.

Voters now rate Romney positively at 50 percent favorable and 47 unfavorable, a shift from the last PPP poll where the GOP nominee had a 44 favorable and 51 unfavorable rating.

Meanwhile, 48 percent of Florida voters have a favorable rating of Obama and 50 percent have an unfavorable rating.  PPP’s last poll had the president on positive ground with 51 percent of voters approving of him and 47 percent disapproving.

“Mitt Romney has the momentum after his strong debate performance last week, but Barack Obama’s still very much in it,” said PPP President Dean Debnam.

Florida voters thought Vice President Joe Biden won last week’s debate against Rep.  Paul Ryan (R-WI) by a 44 percent to 40 percent margin. But voters still have a more favorable opinion of Ryan (50/44 favorability) than they do of the Vice President (45/50).

The poll also has Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) leading Republican Connie Mack by a 45-to-37 percent margin.

The PPP survey was conducted from Oct. 12 to 14 and has a margin of error of +/- 3 points.

The poll, conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, found Romney leading Obama 51 percent to 44 percent among likely Florida voters with four percent undecided. The poll’s findings are a dramatic shift from about a month ago when the same poll found Obama ahead of Romney, 48 percent to 47 percent.

According to the survey, the movement can be attributed to independents, who broke for Romney 52 percent to 39 percent. Obama led by 11 points among independents last month.

The poll also showed the debate last week had a direct impact on voters, with five percent saying they were undecided but now support Romney, Another two percent of Obama supporters said they are now undecided because of the debate.

Romney also now has a slight lead among Hispanic voters, a voting bloc that most polls show Obama winning decisively.  The survey found Romney with 46 percent support of Hispanics and Obama with 44 percent.

Romney is viewed favorably by 50 percent of those surveyed while 38 percent have an unfavorable view of him. Meanwhile 45 percent said they have a favorable view of Obama while 49 percent said they have an unfavorable view.

The survey’s results differ significantly from an NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll also released Thursday, which gave the president a one-point advantage over Romney.

The poll was conducted among 800 likely voters from Oct. 8-10 and has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.

In Florida, the president is up 51 to 47 percent among likely voters and nine percentage points among registered voters.

Obama is buoyed by a double-digit advantage among female voters. In Florida, 53 percent of men back Romney, and 45 percent support Obama. Romney has the edge among white voters, while Obama wins 74 percent of non-white likely voters.

Overall, 55 percent of voters approve of the job Obama doing, which puts him safely above the 50-percent threshold.  While a majority of voters say the country is on the “wrong track,” 52 percent approve of how Obama is handling the economy versus 47 percent that disapprove.

By a whopping 60 to 35 percent margin, Florida voters say they trust Obama rather than Romney to advance the interests of the middle class. By 14 percentage points, those polled side with the president as the one with greater empathy toward people’s economic problems. Obama is also running 15 percentage points ahead of his challenger on whom voters trust more to determine the future of Medicare.

One interesting point:  more voters say they’ve personally been contacted by a representative of the Romney campaign than the Obama campaign.

A new Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald/Bay News 9 poll conducted by Mason-Dixon finds 48 percent of likely Florida voters backing Obama with 47 percent supporting Romney.

“Despite what some people have tried to claim, this race is still close in Florida,” said Brad Coker, who conducted the Mason-Dixon Polling & Research survey. “It’s very much a toss-up.”

Another poll released Monday gives Obama a larger four-point lead over Romney. PPP’s newest Florida poll finds the president leading the former Massachusetts governor by a 50 to 46 margin—a three point improvement for Obama since PPP’s last poll of the state, which was conducted the weekend after the Republican convention. It represents the largest lead PPP has found for Obama in Florida since early June.

Both polls show Obama is buoyed by women and independents. Independents back the president by 11 percentage points in both polls. Obama has a 15-point advantage among women in the Mason-Dixon poll, while PPP has the president with an 11-point among female voters.

Romney leads by 6 percentage points among those 65 and older in the Mason Dixon poll and has an 8-point advantage among seniors in the PPP poll.

According to the Mason-Dixon poll, 49 percent say Obama can best protect Medicare, with 47 backing Romney.

The PPP poll finds Romney’s favorability rating has dropped since the group’s last poll in August. Romney’s favorability rating was at 49 percent and is now at 44 percent. Meanwhile, those who view him negatively climbed from 47 percent to 51 percent. Romney is viewed favorably by 43 percent and unfavorably by 39 percent in the Mason-Dixon poll.

The Mason Dixon poll shows 47 percent approve of Obama’s job performance and 45 percent disapprove. Forty-six percent have a favorable impression of Obama and 43 percent have an unfavorable one.

Both polls were conducted after the release of a secret recording of Romney suggesting that 47 percent of voters are government-dependent victims. According to PPP, 89 percent of voters are familiar with Romney’s comments and 50 percent consider them to have been inappropriate.

The Mason-Dixon phone survey of 800 registered Florida voters was conducted Sept. 17-19, and has a margin of error of +/- 3.5 percentage points. The PPP survey of 861 likely Florida voters was conducted Sept. 20-23, and has a margin of error of +/-3.3 percentage points.

Continuing his post-convention bounce, the poll shows Obama with 49 percent support in the Sunshine State compared to 44 percent support for Romney. Among a larger pool of registered voters, Obama’s advantage over Romney slightly increases to eight-points in Florida.

More voters approved than disapproved of Obama’s job performance.

The candidates are essentially tied among likely voters on the question of which candidate would do a better job handling the economy with likely voters picking Romney over Obama, 47 to 46 percent.

In the Senate race, Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson leads Republican challenger Connie Mack among likely voters by double digits, 51 to 37 percent.

The NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist surveys also show the president leading Romney in Ohio and Virginia. The poll of nearly 1,000 likely voters was conducted between 9/9 and 9/11, and has a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points.

The reason Nelson is ahead by seven-points despite being unpopular is that Mack is even more unpopular. Nelson has middling approval numbers, with only 35 percent of voters approving of him to 42 percent who disapprove. But Nelson’s  numbers are glowing compared to Mack’s.

Only 27 percent of voters have a favorable opinion of Mack, compared to 45 percent with an unfavorable one. Just 17 percent of independents have a positive opinion of the Republican to 48 percent with a negative one. Much of Nelson’s lead comes thanks to a 45 to 29 advantage with independents.

According to a PPP analysis, the Florida Senate race represents “the new norm in electoral politics- millions have been spent bashing the heck out of both candidates, so voters dislike both of them and are kind of just choosing the lesser of two evils. For now that’s Nelson.”

According to the PPP survey, former Gov. Charlie Crist’s popularity has waned since getting back into the spotlight,

After his endorsement of President Obama only 36 percent of voters in the state now have a positive opinion of Crist to 44 percent  with a negative one. In a hypothetical match-up, Crist–running as a Democrat– would lead Gov.  Rick Scott 45 to 42 percent.

Other key findings:

• Scott’s approval rating is 41 percent with 49 percent of voters disapproving of him. Although he continues to be unpopular,  these are actually the best numbers PPP has had for the governor since he took office.
• A plurality of Florida voters- 42 percent have no opinion about DNC chair/Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz one way or another. Among those who do, 26 percemnt see her positively to 31 percent with a negative opinion.
• Democrats lead the generic Congressional ballot in Florida 44 to 43 percent, including a 39 to 28 advantage with independents.

The PPP survey of 1,548 likely Florida voters was taken from 8/31-9/2, and has a margin of error of +/-2.5 percent.

The president is expected to visit the state on Saturday, September 8 and Sunday, September 9.

Meanwhile, the Republican Party of Sarasota County announced on Monday that Mitt Romney will travel to Sarasota later this month for a fundraiser.

According to an announcement, Romney will be in Sarasota on Sept. 20 for an “intimate” gathering. Tickets for the fundraiser start at $2,500-per-person.

Poll Finds No Convention Bump For Romney In Florida

PPP’s newest Florida poll, conducted after the Republican convention in Tampa, finds no bump for Romney in the state. According to the poll, Obama leads Romney 48 to 47 percent in Florida—the same numbers from the firm’s poll five weeks earlier.

The poll found that 33% of voters say the Tampa confab made them more likely to vote for Republicans, 33% said it made them less likely to vote for Republicans, and 34% said it didn’t make a difference to them either way.

Romney did see a slight bump in his favorability numbers. 49% of voters have a positive opinion of him to 47% with a negative one. That +2 spread is up a net 5 points from late July when his breakdown was 46/49.

The poll found Obama is up 49 percent to 46 percent in Florida. In an earlier Quinnipiac polling results released on Aug. 1, Obama led Romney 51-45 in the Sunshine State.

The poll also had Sen. Bill Nelson leading his Republican challenger, Rep. Connie Mack, 50 to 41 percent. In the new poll released Thursday, independent voters were divided, with 45 percent supporting Nelson and 43 percent favoring Mack.

Obama has a 50 percent favorability rating in Florida compared to Romney, who was rated favorably by 45 percent of respondents compared to 42 percent unfavorably.

Voters in Florida view Romney as the stronger candidate for handling the economy. The poll found 48 percent of seniors say Romney would do a better job on Medicare, versus 44 percent who say that about Obama.

The random telephone survey of 1,241 likely voters in Florida was conducted Aug. 15-21 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.

The Florida senator got 28 percent of the vote, followed by NJ Gov. Chris Christie and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)–both at 16 percent–and LA Gov. Bobby Jindal at 8 percent.

Favorites including Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) and former MN Gov. Tim Pawlenty failed to crack double-digit support, polling at six percent and four percent, respectively,

Among the Republicans polled, Rubio was viewed favorably by 50 percent and unfavorably by 10 percent.

Speculation is mounting that Romney could announce his choice during a campaign bus tour that begins Saturday and travels through four swing states, including Florida.

A Rubio source confirmed that the freshman senator is expected to join Romney on Monday when the bus tour makes stops in St. Augustine, Orlando and Miami.

The poll of 419 Republicans and GOP-leaning independents was taken on Tuesday and Wednesday. It has a margin of error of +/- 5 percentage points.