Romney, Obama neck-and-neck in a poll of likely voters

If voters get to choose between Republican Mitt Romney and Democratic

President Barack Obama in the 2012 election, a new national poll suggests the

race would be too close to call.

Both Romney and Obama had the support of 45 percent of respondents to a new

Rasmussen Reports poll released Monday.

The public opinion polling company asked 1,000 likely voters nationwide on

July 18 and 19 whether they would vote for Romney or Obama if the 2012

presidential election were held today.

The telephone survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent.

Utah's top pollster, Dan Jones, said that so early in the election cycle,

such polls are "somewhat guesswork, but it's still an indicator. I would be very

surprised if we had an election and it would be that close."

Jones said the poll results say more about how Americans view Obama than a

potential GOP challenger.

"It shows there are people who are discouraged with the (president's)

economic package and especially with the direction America is going," Jones

said. Still, he said, the poll "will be very, very encouraging to the Romney

people."

The results should give both Romney and the GOP a boost, said Kelly

Patterson, the director of BYU's Center for the Study of Elections and

Democracy.

"Gov. Romney can take a lot of heart from this because the Republican Party

has gone through a very difficult stretch," Patterson said. "The fact that any

Republican candidate is that close to Obama at this point is good news for the

Republican Party."