Poll: Romney gains five points on Obama in Wisconsin, now within two

There’s not much doubt it was Romney’s strong debate performance on Wednesday night that’s given him this boost. Voters think he won the debate by a 61/25 margin, including a 60/19 margin with independents. 95% of Republicans think Romney won the debate, while only 50% of Democrats claim to think Obama was the winner. Romney’s image has seen significant improvement over the last couple weeks with 49% of voters now expressing a positive opinion of him to 48% with a negative one. That’s up a net 8 points from a 44/51 spread on our last poll.

The main shift compared to 2 weeks ago in Wisconsin is an increase in Republican enthusiasm about Romney and the election in general. He’s gone from leading Obama by 79 points with Republicans (89-10) to an 85 point advantage (92-7). One thing that might be reassuring for Democrats is that Obama’s held steady with independents in the state, continuing to hold a 9 point lead.

There’s also been a big uptick in Republican enthusiasm about the election.