A new poll of the battleground state of Iowa released on Saturday night by The Des Moines Register shows President Obama leading Mitt Romney by four percentage points among likely voters, 49 percent to 45 percent.
The poll is the latest in a series to show the president with an edge over the challenger in many of the crucial swing states less than six weeks before the election.
In a bit of bad news-good news for Romney, the poll found that many Iowa voters already have made up their minds, with only two percent identifying themselves as undecided. However, 10 percent said they could still be persuaded to vote for another candidate, offering a glimmer of hope for the Republican nominee.
Romney has campaigned in Iowa six times since clinching the Republican nomination, but hasn't visited since Sept. 7, when he held a rally in the northwest part of the state, a conservative stronghold. Obama made eight visits to the state ahead of early voting, which started last week.
Both campaigns are making a point to send surrogates in their place, blanketing the state with running mates and wives. Both Ann Romney and Michelle Obama have campaigned in Iowa in the past ten days. And Vice President Joe Biden and Paul Ryan will makes stops in the state in the upcoming week.
The latest Des Moines Register poll was conducted Sept. 23-26 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points among likely voters.