Poll dancing -- 09.05.12

Favorability gap narrowing [Washington Post/ABC, 9/4]: Forty-seven percent of registered voters have a favorable impression of President Obama while forty-three percent view Mitt Romney favorably.

New Jersey voters unmoved by Gov. Chris Christie's RNC speech [Quinnipiac, 9/5]: Twenty-two percent of Jersey voters who said they watched Christie's speech said it made them think more favorably of him. Christie's approval rating in state has remained essentially unchanged at 53 percent. In July, it was at 54 percent.

Viewers say Romney upstaged by Eastwood [Pew, 9/5]: "As many of those who watched at least a little convention coverage cited Clint Eastwood’s speech as the convention highlight (20%) as named Romney’s speech (17%). One-in-five say there was no convention highlight, about the same percentage as four years ago."

Most Americans still like Social Security [Rasmussen, 9/5]: "60% of Likely U.S. Voters have a favorable opinion of Social Security, while 33% view the government retirement system unfavorably." Only 40% of voters actually expect to receive benefits from the program by the time they're eligible.

Legalizing marijuana a popular idea in Colorado [PPP, 9/4]: "Colorado's constitutional amendment to legalize marijuana usage continues to lead by a 47/38 margin, exactly what we found in the state last month. The ballot language is a little confusing so we also asked a question just in general about whether people think marijuana should be legal and 49% say yes to 43% who dissent."

The horse race [RCP average, 9/5]: An average of national polls shows Obama and Romney split even at 46.8 percent.