Tight race, big debate ahead with 3 weeks to go

FILE - In this Oct. 12, 2012, file photo Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney campaigns in Lancaster, Ohio. It's either candidate's race to win as Obama and Romney prepare to dig in for their second debate Tuesday night, Oct. 16, 2012, with just three weeks to go until the election and voting already well under way in many states. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

By CHARLES BABINGTON

Associated Press / October 14, 2012

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A Washington Post-ABC News poll on voters favorability toward the candidates conducted after the first debate showed Romney viewed as ‘‘strongly favorable’’ by 62 percent of Republicans, his highest level in that poll.

Republicans are working to harness that enthusiasm to counter Obama’s tested early-voting program, which in 2008 made the difference when Obama carried Colorado, Florida, Iowa and North Carolina.

No votes will be counted until Nov. 6.

But early reports from North Carolina and Florida encourage GOP workers.

Among the 29,400 voters who have cast absentee ballots in North Carolina, 54 percent are registered Republicans and 28 percent are Democrats, according to the United States Elections Project at George Mason University. Democrats have a big lead in Iowa in terms of early ballots cast by party registration.

Obama’s voter registration push has resulted in more Democrats than Republicans on the voter rolls in most of the tightest states, including Florida and Nevada, according to data from state election boards. Even so, Republicans have narrowed the Democratic voter advantage since 2008 in many of the battlegrounds, including Iowa.

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Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa. Associated Press writers Beth Fouhy in New York and Stephen Ohlemacher in Washington, and AP Deputy Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta in Washington contributed to this report.