Nightly News   |  November 04, 2012

New poll shows ‘Sandy effect’ on election

A new NBC poll should give both presidential campaigns reason to hope. Obama comes in at 48 percent; Romney at 47 percent. Taking Sandy into account, 80 percent in the Northeast said they approved of the president’s handling of Superstorm Sandy. NBC’s Chuck Todd reports.

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This content comes from Closed Captioning that was broadcast along with this program.

>>> 48 from now, the first polling places here on the east coast will close in the presidential election . the final "countdown" is on and the gut check moment has arrived for president obama and governor romney as they make the crucial decisions as to where and how to marshall their resources into places they can still make a difference. and tonight, we're about to release the results of our time poll in this race, a last-minute snapshot that could give both camps a reason for hope and anxiety. and how the hurricane sandy disaster has affected this race. let's start with our political director and chief white house correspondent chuck todd who's just below me here on democracy plaza.

>> let's get right to the numbers, the president with a very narrow lead, 48% to 47%. this is almost last close presidential election we had which is when president bush also had a 48% to 47% lead. among early voters, president obama with a seven-point advantage here. four in ten voters may vote early this year. and in the battle ground states, the president's got a four-point lead and that's within the margin of error. in the northea let me show you where there may be a sandy effect, and that is the idea of which candidate has better leadership qualities. a week earlier, governor romney led the polls, but now you see president obama leads. in the middle class , the president leads by n'k11,