FACE-OFF. US Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney and US President Barack Obama slug it out for votes in one of the "swing" states, Ohio. AFP PHOTO/Emmanuel Dunand (L) / Jewel Samad (R)

WASHINGTON, United States - Just 48 hours before Election Day, the presidential race for the White House is tied, with both President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, receiving 48% support among likely votes, a new poll has found.

The latest ABC News/Washington Post survey also showed Sunday that even independents, whose decision can push one of the candidates over the top, are now evenly divided: 46% favor Obama and 46% Romney.

Even the candidates' likability ratings, where the president used to lead by a wide margin, have practically evened out. About 54% of likely voters now express a favorable opinion of Obama while 53% do the same about Romney.

But the candidate, according to the poll, fare differently among various social and ethnic groups.

Obama, for example, leads among women by a margin of 6% while Romney leads among men by 7%.

Whites favor Romney by a margin of 20%, but Obama leads by a 59% margin among nonwhites.

Like in the 2008 election, young adults favor Obama by a 25% margin while seniors prefer Romney by 12%.

And Romney practically owns evangelical white Protestants: he leads by a 70% among this group.

The survey had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. - Agence France-Presse

More on the 2012 U.S. Presidential Elections:

• Why the U.S. Elections is important to Filipinos
• The Untapped Political Force of Filipino-Americans
• Ann Romney up close. The U.S. polls come down to 9 swing states
• Would Romney be a better ally of PH?
• Rappler interviews Republican Senator John McCain. He says PH-US relationship stronger under Romney presidency
• Obama: We have made progress
• Romney: I'm promising 'real change.' He says Obama fell short of his promises in 2008
• Sandy throws campaign schedules into chaos