US presidential race virtually even: Reuters/Ipsos poll

President Barack Obama holds a narrow lead of 2 percentage points over Republican challenger Mitt Romney in Reuters/Ipsos poll results released on Saturday, leaving the race effectively tied as fewer voters say they are likely to change their minds.

Obama led Romney by 47 percent to 45 percent among likely voters, a slim margin within the daily national online tracking survey's credibility interval.

The poll also found that 88 percent of registered voters now say they will definitely vote for their candidate, leaving just 12 percent who say they could change their minds, 10 days before Election Day on November 6.

An average of about 15 percent said they could switch contenders in Reuters/Ipsos polling last week.

Nearly one in five - 18 percent - said they had already cast their ballots. Among those, Obama led 55 percent to 41 percent for Romney. That result is not considered predictive because more Democrats vote early than Republicans.

The survey was conducted October 23-27. It sampled 1,665 registered voters and 1,291 likely voters.

The precision of Reuters/Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. For this survey, the credibility interval is plus or minus 2.7 percentage points for registered voters and 3.1 for likely voters.