Obama and Romney tied at 47% among likely voters, new NBC/WSJ poll shows

Heading into the final two weeks of the 2012 presidential race, President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney are now tied among likely voters, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released on Sunday.

The poll--conducted between Oct. 17 and Oct. 20 among 1,000 registered voters and 816 likely voters--found Obama and Romney are each favored by 47 percent of likely voters.

However, President Obama leads Romney by five points (49 percent to 44 percent) among registered voters, according to the NBC/WSJ poll.

In the same survey conducted prior to first presidential debate, Obama held a 3-point lead (49 percent to 46 percent) among likely voters.

[Related: As other polls show tight race, Gallup stands apart]

Among men, the former Massachussetts governor holds a 10-point lead (53 percent to 43 percent) while the president leads by 8 points (51 percent to 43 percent) among women.

"I like what I see because the trend is in our direction," Ohio GOP Sen. Rob Portman said on "Meet The Press" on Sunday. "That's where you want to be at this point in the campaign."

"If you look at the early voting that's going on around the country, it's very robust and its very favorable to us," Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod countered. "And we think that's a better indicator than these public polls, which are frankly all over the, all over the map."