Obama leads Romney in one new poll, virtually tied in another

President Barack Obama holds a nine-point lead over GOP challenger Mitt Romney in one new poll released Monday, although another puts the two candidates in a virtual tie for the White House.

According to the CNN/ORC International poll, 52 percent of registered voters said they would vote for Obama if the election were held today, and 43 percent said they would cast a ballot for Romney.

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That poll also revealed a continuing large gender gap benefitting Obama. Women voters backed Obama over Romney by 16 points, virtually unchanged from an 18-point advantage among women for the president in CNN polling last month, CNN reported.

However, a new Gallup poll puts Obama in a virtual tie with Romney, USA Today reported.

In that survey, Romney leads Obama 47 percent to 45 percent among registered voters. Romney also holds a 6-point edge among independent voters, according to USA Today.

More from GlobalPost: Women voters favor Obama over Romney, new Gallup poll shows

The CNN/ORC International poll was taken April 13-15 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. The Gallup poll was conducted April 11-15 and also has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Both polls were taken days after Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen sparked controversy by saying that Ann Romney "never worked a day in her life."

They were released the same day that Romney sent Obama a curt message, telling the president to "start packing" when asked by Diane Sawyer in an interview to air Monday night if he had a message for the commander in chief.

He told Sawyer that Obama's policies "have not helped the American people. They have not helped get jobs, they have not helped raise incomes and they've added trillions of dollars of debt."