According to Washington Post’s Breaking News Alert (May 8), President Obama faced sharply divided counsel and, in his mind, barely better-than-even odds of success when he ordered the daring May 1 commando raid that killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the president said in an interview broadcast Sunday. "At the end of the day, this was still a 55/45 situation," Obama told CBS's "60 Minutes"
To me if the chance is 51 vs. 49, it seems to be “barely” better than even odd. But 55/45 chance looks not very, but ‘significantly positive’ mark if I’m asked to challenge. YMMV.
Of course criterion of judgment varies by status and situation you are placed in and magnitude of consequence you expect. But from purely rhetorical point of view, is 10% margin categorized in “barely better-than-even” range?