Romney Leads Obama, 49% To 47%, In New Poll

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney appears to have stolen the lead from Democratic President Barack Obama at this point in the election cycle, according to right-leaning Rasmussen Reports.

Rasmussen’s daily presidential tracking poll for Sunday reports that 49 percent of voters nationwide support Romney and 47 percent of them support Obama. Just 2 percent are still undecided, while another 2 percent prefer some other candidate.

Rasmussen’s poll is based on interviews conducted after the first 2012 presidential-election debate on Wednesday. Snap polls last week reported most voters believed Romney won the debate and had performed much better than expected.

The question remains as to whether Romney can keep the momentum going. He will debate Obama twice more before the Nov. 6 election.

“The numbers reflect a modest debate bounce for Romney,” according to Rasmussen Reports. “As with all bounces, it remains to be seen whether it is a temporary blip or signals a lasting change in the race.”

Obama has attacked Romney’s debate performance, saying Romney wasn’t entirely honest about the policies he favored in the debate. At a rally the day after the event, Obama criticized Romney for supporting a $5 trillion tax cut, from which Romney has since distanced himself.

Obama's critics have knocked the Democrat, saying he missed numerous opportunities in the debate to be more aggressive toward Romney and call out the Republican on his constantly changing policy positions, commonly known as flip-flops.

Obama’s camp said it will adjust its strategy in the debates on Oct. 16 and Oct. 22.

“We met a new Mitt Romney,” Robert Gibbs, a senior campaign adviser to Obama, said on NBC's "Meet The Press" Sunday.

“We met a Mitt Romney [who] wanted to walk away from the central theory of his economic plan, which is his tax cut," Gibbs said. "If somebody says absolutely anything to get elected, you have to wonder what they’re going to say when they’re president of the United States.”