Obama tops Romney 49-46 %: New poll finds

On handling the economy, however, the Washington Post-ABC News survey showed that both candidates are tied at 47 percent in the opinion of voters, The Washington Post reports Tuesday.

The new opinion poll was conducted after months of intense campaigning on the economy and employment by both presidential nominees, indicating that campaigning will continue with the Election Day, on the first Tuesday of November, nearly five months away.

Despite the recent publicity about other matters, such as same-sex marriage, over half of all American voters view the economy as the lone concern that will determine how they would vote in November. This is while they rate factors such as health care, taxes and federal deficit in single digits.

More than eight in 10 Americans, according to the poll, continue to rate the national economy negatively, though there are some signs of optimism as the recovery from the collapse of 2008 appears to persist.

According to the survey, 56 percent of Americans believe an economic system favoring the rich is a bigger problem than regulatory measures by the federal government, while 34 percent say public restraints on the free market are of a larger concern.

Compared with his predecessor George W. Bush, Obama scores nearly evenly in terms of overall job performance. According to the new poll, 49 percent disapprove of Obama while 47 percent approve. When Bush was seeking reelection in 2004 at this time, there was a similar split of 50 versus 47 among voters.

The poll was conducted by telephone between May 17 and 20 among a random sample of 1,004 adults. The margin of sampling error, according the Post report, is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points for the full survey and four points for the sample of 874 registered voters.