WASHINGTON – Still sour on the state of the U.S. economy, Americans are nonetheless heading into the home stretch to Election Day feeling better about the country's future and about how President Barack Obama is doing his job, a new Associated Press-GfK poll shows.

Republican rival Mitt Romney, meanwhile, has lost his pre-convention edge on the economy amid a flurry of distractions that have taken him on a detour from the central message of his campaign.

For all of that, neither candidate has managed to break away in the drum-tight presidential race.