President Barack Obama tripped while running on the stage at a Tampa, Florida campaign event and used his hands to prevent his face from smashing on the floor.
The president quickly rose up and joked that he fell, saying that "I was so fired up I missed a stair; I couldn't wait to get out here!"
Election results in November will prove whether the graceless mishap was just a coincidence or a precursor of the final results after voters choose between the incumbent and Republican Mitt Romney, who officially is to be nominated next month.
All polls show Romney leading or at least running neck-and neck with Obama, whose chances for a second term as president are widely viewed as being dependent on reports during the next four months on the state of the struggling American economy.
The latest Pew poll, which previously has shown the most favorable results for Obama, shows that Romney has halved the president’s lead and now has support from 46 percent of the respondents, compared with 50 percent for the president.
A more ominous sign for Obama is Romney’s commanding 49-41 percent lead over the question of which candidate would be best for American jobs.
“Overall, it’s a tight race and Romney’s big advantage at this point is his lead on improving economic conditions,” said Carroll Doherty, associate director of the Pew poll.
The Gallup Poll shows Romney and Obama in a dead heat, while the Rasmussen Poll, often viewed as biased in favor of Republicans, gives Romney a five-point lead.
President Obama still suffers from a lack of belief among some voters that he is a Christian. A Gallup poll on Friday revealed that 44 percent of the respondents said they do not know Obama's religion, and only one-third said he is a Christian, as he avows.
Eleven percent maintain that Obama is a Muslim, the religion of his father.