Washington: On the eve of a crucial debate between the US President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney, a new poll has suggested that the race to the White House is a dead heat nationally.

The average of seven non-partisan, live operator, national surveys conducted entirely after the first debate on October 3 indicates that while Obama has a support of 47 per cent, Romney carries a support of 48 percent, the CNN said yesterday.

-The new poll shows the race has snapped back to the fundamentals. The margin of comfort Obama enjoyed in September is gone; it was based on voters who were dissatisfied with his performance but didn’t see Romney as a viable alternative,- CNN’s Senior Political Analyst and National Journal Editorial Director Ron Brownstein said.

-Clearly at the first debate, Romney crossed that threshold for many of those voters. Which means we are back in a race that is structurally close, and linked tightly toward Obama’s performance,- he added.