Obama widens poll lead over Romney

President Barack Obama has widened his marginal lead over Republican candidate Mitt Romney in a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Saturday.

Garnering up support following the Democratic National Convention, the Democratic incumbent recorded a lead of 4 percentage points over his Republican rival.

Forty-seven percent of 1,457 likely voters surveyed online said they would vote for Obama compared to 43 percent for Romney.

Obama had extended his lead over Romney in the daily tracking poll on Friday, sitting at 46 percent compared to 44 percent.

Obama’s lead comes in spite of a mixed reaction to his convention speech on Thursday night in Charlotte, North Carolina and jobs data released on Friday indicating that growth had slowed considerable last month.

Obama also increased his lead over Romney in certain favorable characteristics.

When asked who was more "eloquent," 50 percent of the 1,720 registered voters questioned in the poll chose Obama, compared to 25 percent for Romney.

Meanwhile, 46 percent though Obama was "smart enough for the job” compared to 37 percent for Romney.

Obama beat Romney in a dozen such favorable characteristics. The only category where Romney had an advantage was being "a man of faith” with 44 percent choosing Romney, who is a Mormon, compared to 31 percent for Obama, who is a Christian.