Romney upbeat despite bleak polls

Mitt Romney insisted he would win Ohio Wednesday, but new polls showed him needing a sharp turnaround in the must-win state if he is to grab the White House from President Barack Obama.The Republican challenger paired up with golf legend Jack Nicklaus as he swung for a comeback in the key battleground, where Obama will touch down later in the day to seek to solidify a growing lead six weeks from election day.Romneys struggling campaign absorbed a new blow Wednesday as fresh polls showed him trailing Obama by 53 percent to 43 percent in Ohio and by nine percent in the biggest battleground of Florida as voter attitudes harden.The scenario outlined in Quinnipiac University/New York Times/CBS News polls would be ruinous to Romney if repeated in the election on November 6, because it would deprive him of a viable route to the White House.The polls showed a wider Obama lead than in other surveys, but several other recent snapshots of Ohio voter opinion have Romney trailing by seven or eight points. Both campaigns expect the race to narrow as election day approaches.The former Massachusetts governor showed no sign of disquiet as he pumped up a rally of around 2,000 cheering people at a high school gymnasium on the outskirts of Columbus.Nicklaus, who won more professional major championships than any other golfer, hoped some of his winning credentials would rub off on Romney and his running mate Paul Ryan, who campaigns in swing state Colorado Wednesday.Obama, a passionate golfer himself, strode out of the Oval Office with a broad smile to board his helicopter to head back to the campaign trail a day after delivering a robust defense of US values at the United Nations.Despite national unemployment of 8.1 percent and a slow economic recovery many Americans are yet to feel, Obama appears to be defying political gravity with time running out for Romney to reset the race.Obama leads in the top nine battleground states, according to averages of recent polling the RealClearPolitics website, a week before the first of a trio of head-to-head debates that are now vital to Romneys hopes of a turnaround.The Quinnipiac poll found that 90 percent of voters in Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania, where Obama also had a big lead, had made up their minds, meaning Romney needs something dramatic to reverse his sinking prospects.The survey was carried out between September 18-24, as Romney faced a barrage of criticism, including over a video showing him telling rich donors that 47 percent of Americans were freeloaders who did not pay tax.Governor Mitt Romney had a bad week in the media and it shows in these key swing states, said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.Brown said the furor over the 47 percent remark was almost certainly is a major factor in Obamas leads in the three states.The debates may be Romneys best chance to reverse the trend in his favor, Brown said.Romney sought to shore up his sagging ratings among the middle class with a new campaign aid, delivered direct to camera.