Women under 50 fuel Obama's 9-point lead on Romney

GOP blames loss on a focus on contraception

Conservative concerns with reproductive issues appears to have cost the Republican presidential frontrunner key support among younger women in the nation's swing states over the past month.

A USA Today/Gallup Poll shows President Barack Hussein Obama now enjoys a 51 percent to 42 percent lead over Governor Mitt Romney in the nation's dozen top battleground states.

A shift in new support in battleground states breaks out along gender lines, where the president's chief supporters are now to be found in the category of women under 50.

This represents a surge to more than six in 10 from a factor of less than half of those polled in February, while Governor Romney's support among the same group fell by 14 points over the same period to 30 percent.

Mr. Obama leads Mr. Romney by 2 to 1 in this group, according to the fifth poll done in swing states since last fall.

The main advantage for Mr. Romney shown in the latest poll is among men over 50, where he leads 56 percent to 38 percent.

A top Republican strategist, Sara Taylor Fagen told “USA Today” that “The focus on contraception has not been a good one for us – and Republicans have unfairly taken on water on this issue.”

Among men of all ages, Mr. Romney leads by a single point in Colorado Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin.

Pollsters noted a plus or minus margin of error of four percentage points.