WASHINGTON, Oct 18: A survey of 22 markets, released on Thursday, shows that most Americans are unwilling to put their money on Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, although opinion polls still give him an edge.

Real Clear Politics (RCP), which monitors opinion surveys and markets, reported that President Barack Obama has a huge advantage over Mr Romney in in-trade odds, 64.3 to 35.9 per cent.

The bidders also say that Mr Obama has 63.2 pc chances of winning the Nov 6 presidential election compared to Mr Romney’s 36.9 pc.

Mr Obama’s shares are sold at $6.32 a piece while Mr Romney’s at $3.67 a share.

But RCP notes that major polls continue to give Mr Romney a slight edge over Mr Obama.

The RCP national average of opinion surveys shows that 47.3 pc of likely voters believe Mr Romney will win the election. But 45.9 pc voters see Mr Obama as the victor.

Mr Romney is also ahead by 0.4 points in RCP national average of favourable ratings.

Pew Research, a Washington-based polling company, has Mr Romney up by 4 points; 49 pc to Mr Obama’s 45 pc.

Yet another polling firm, Rasmussen Reports, also puts Mr Romney in the lead with 49 pc of support to Mr Obama’s 47 pc.

According to the polling numbers, two per cent of voters prefer another candidate and 2 pc are undecided.

Another respectable surveyor, Gallup Polls, reported on Thursday that Mr Romney had a 7-point lead over President Obama among likely voters.

Mr Romney takes 52 pc support to 45 pc for Mr Obama, and also leads 48 per cent to 47 among registered voters. The survey, however, was conducted between Oct 7 and Oct 17 and includes only one day of polling since Tuesday night’s debate in New York state.

Democrats hope Mr Obama’s forceful performance in the debate will blunt Mr Romney’s momentum.

Mr Romney’s victory in the first debate on Oct 3 gave a major boost to his campaign.