Pew survey: Barack Obama no longer the front-runner in 2012 campaign
One of the most prestigious polling operations in the nation, the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, this afternoon declared that Democratic incumbent Barack Obama is no longer the front-runner in the 2012 presidential campaign:
By about three-to-one, voters say Romney did a better job than Obama in the Oct. 3 debate, and the Republican is now better regarded on most personal dimensions and on most issues than he was in September. Romney is seen as the candidate who has new ideas and is viewed as better able than Obama to improve the jobs situation and reduce the budget deficit.
Fully 66% of registered voters say Romney did the better job in last Wednesday’s debate, compared with just 20% who say Obama did better. A majority (64%) of voters who watched the debate describe it as mostly informative; just 26% say it was mostly confusing.
In turn, Romney has drawn even with Obama in the presidential race among registered voters (46% to 46%) after trailing by nine points (42% to 51%) in September. Among likely voters, Romney holds a slight 49% to 45% edge over Obama. He trailed by eight points among likely voters last month.
The Pew poll was conducted Oct. 4-7 among 1,511 adults, including 1,201 registered voters (1,112 likely voters). One of the factors in Romney’s gains:
While shifts are evident across many demographic groups, there has been a notable change among women voters: In September, just 42% viewed Romney favorably, while 60% had positive impressions of Obama. Today, about half view each of the candidates favorably (51% Obama, 48% Romney).
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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108 comments Add your comment
Hulk
October 8th, 2012
7:28 pm
Romney looked poised and like a leader. Get over it. If the annointed one was so good he wouldn’t need a teleprompter and could also debate on his effective positive policies. Unfortunately for him he had neither.
Steven Lee
October 8th, 2012
7:33 pm
Retired Soldier,
Tell me how did Bush help the economy when in fact we had a budget SURPLAS when he got into office and we went into a budget DEFICIT?!?! Bad economics AND raised the national debt to 7-9 trillion dollars… Smh and for housing. That whole presidency was a lie to begin with.
Hulk
October 8th, 2012
7:37 pm
A lot of the housing crisis actually happened under Bill Clintons tenure. Yes that’s right Clinton. It simply took years and years for the sh#$ to hit the fan so to speak. Bush gets all the blame because it occured in his presidency, but the truth is both of those administrations and congress are to blame. People that think Bush magically let anyone get a loan that didnt qualify is sadly mistaken. How about doing some research for once and really reading up on when laws were passed that affect those today. Having said that Bush could have been a much better president. I and any other independent/conservative would agree. He spent like a drunken sailor and mis-managed a lot of things. However, Obama has not impressed me. I gave him his chance…it’s time for a change!
Doug
October 8th, 2012
7:44 pm
The New Yorker front cover says it all.
ShineIdiot
October 8th, 2012
7:46 pm
Shine
You are an idiot. You vote Obama for 1 reason. You know why.
Vote for what is best for our country.
Kris
October 8th, 2012
7:49 pm
Buckhead Boy..”Besides, wouldn’t it give you pleasure to take the money of a liberal like me, and prove me wrong?”
Sat\y it quietly Don’t want to pay sales tax on it . Dirty deal will send the tax man for ya.
Please make a donation to help save Big Bird.
Kramer
October 8th, 2012
7:50 pm
The real poll on November, 6th will show Romney way ahead. That’s a shame, a damn shame. I mean if you are a liberal of course.
An observer
October 8th, 2012
8:05 pm
There is absolutely no valid reason to vote for Obama. He clearly is promising four more years of suffering. He has no leadership skills or ideas for helping the economy. All he has is to spend more to sink the country further in debt and raise taxes on everyone. He has already said the payroll tax is going back up on everyone, including those who only earn $20,000 a year.
taco
October 8th, 2012
8:16 pm
An observer 8:05
“There is absolutely no valid reason to vote for Obama.”
This coming from a guy who voted for Nathan Deal, and Sonny Boy You’re funny.
Liar Liar Mitt's Pants Are On Fire
October 8th, 2012
8:22 pm
Lying just for the fun of it is either art or pathology.
Mitt romney is an artful pathological liar.
Proverbs 6:17 says that “a lying tongue” is an abomination to God.
WOW
October 8th, 2012
8:25 pm
Enter your comments here
WOW
October 8th, 2012
8:26 pm
@ Buckhead Boy:
Can I beat you that you won’t get anyone to take you up on your bet.
cc
October 8th, 2012
8:38 pm
Mary Elizabeth wrote, “Romney’s debate points were full of falsehoods”
You’re kidding, right? You support Obama, who has never met a lie he wouldn’t tell, but question Romney? YOU are “unbelievable”!
DJ Sniper wrote, “you completely ignore how the GOP decided to oppose every single thing that Obama tried to do”
YOU completely ignore the way Obama, Pelosi, Reid and the wacko party steamrolled the Republicans during the reign of terror on the taxpayers.
Mary Elizabeth also said, “I am working against a multimillion dollar rightwing propaganda machine which has, evidently, fooled at least half of the population.”
That is exactly what I’m doing, too!
And I bid you all a good evening with these words written about the debate by someone who writes far better than I ever could:
“Obama’s problem, to put it politely, is his looseness with facts. He is the quintessential “sound-bite” president. Truth for him is whatever he chooses it to be, whatever is necessary to turn things in his favor. His self-aggrandizement and arrogance, coupled with a hero-worshiping media, has enabled him to such an extent that it is possible that he no longer believes there is truth other than what he wants it to be. That is his problem, and it has been reinforced for most of his life.
Obama created his own fantasy bubble. He began by inventing history in two so-called autobiographies. Challenging anything in his self-created Alice in Wonderland world brought automatic charges of racism and other attacks from his defenders. After years of living in his bubble, one wonders whether Mr. Obama even knows objectivity or truth. This psychopathology was reinforced by admirers to the extent that Obama has made it a key tool in his political arsenal.”
resno2
October 8th, 2012
8:52 pm
who cares? how many electoral votes do you think obama is going to get out of Georgia?
DJ Sniper
October 8th, 2012
8:53 pm
Hulk, your ignorance is on full display. Do you honestly think that Obama is the only politician in the free world who uses a teleprompter? Jesus H. Christ,I’ve never seen so many people so proud to be so ignorant.
DJ Sniper
October 8th, 2012
8:54 pm
And here’s another thing for people who tout Romney’s business experience as a plus: Running a corporation and running a country are NOT one and the same.
Mad Dog
October 8th, 2012
8:54 pm
Romney has passed “The Amateur” in the polls and the lead is going to continue to widen in the next couple of weeks. No reason to expect Obama to do any better, but perhaps worse, in the additional debates. Cracked me up hearing him talking smack “the day after” on The University Of Wisconsin campus. He was talking all Bad-A** but the night before all he could do was look down as Mitt chewed him up and spit him out. Oh, and by the way, I don’t dislike Obama because he’s a person of color. He’s just inept.
cc
October 8th, 2012
8:56 pm
“Do you honestly think that Obama is the only politician in the free world who uses a teleprompter?”
Of course, he isn’t, but he is the only one whose teleprompter has to do all the real thinking!
Glen Brown
October 8th, 2012
8:58 pm
Who would vote for Obama after that performance? Without a teleprompter and darling media he showed his incompetence.
cc
October 8th, 2012
9:01 pm
“And here’s another thing for people who tout Romney’s business experience as a plus: Running a corporation and running a country are NOT one and the same.”
It isn’t, but President Romney will bring infinitely more experience to the job than Obama brought with him. Let’s face it: a community organizer, law lecturer and (now unlicensed) civil rights attorney is not a lot of ‘real life’ experience.
hat
October 8th, 2012
9:05 pm
“While shifts are evident across many demographic groups, there has been a notable change among women voters”
I called it! A couple of months ago I called it!
cc
October 8th, 2012
9:10 pm
I must leave now and check my hunting supplies. I understand that ‘open season’ has been declared on Big Bird and I want to get an early start so as to beat the crowd.
Are there any good, experienced out-of-work taxidermists out there who need some work? It should be noted that all the liberal BS must be removed from Big Bird’s carcass before any stuffing can be done!
GoAhead
October 8th, 2012
9:15 pm
You guys do realize that Romney believes he will one day rule his own planet, right? In outer space? And that he wears magic underwear? And also that you live in Georgia?
honested
October 8th, 2012
9:24 pm
GoAhead,
I really don’t understand why that isnt’ item one on the front page every day.
We have about of the third of the country who are inbred, booger eating rednecks who perceive the President as a MOOOSLEM because some ass on talk radio told them and we are ready to even vote on this nut who is all wrapped around a religion that even Disney couldn’t have made up (and wouldn’t have hired him for believing).
Well, I guess you can’t expect consistency from superstitious rednecks.
honested
October 8th, 2012
9:26 pm
Quick, without constant blabber from faux and talk radio, how many of you would realize that BOTH candidates use a teleprompter (as does most every other candidate under the lights who want to stay on message for their ‘contributors’).
Kris
October 8th, 2012
9:34 pm
honestead…If you watch the charlatan from the planet Kolob he will say one sentence look to the right then on the next sentence look left. In most situations there could me more than one teleprompter.
Take your meds and help Save Big Bird
joel
October 8th, 2012
9:37 pm
Rommey has two face personality. His is a liar and he knows it .He is brain washing his followers. Do you actually believe he is going to lower taxes. For the rich yes, the rest can go to hell. It is common sense. If I have a business I would like to hire the cheapest help and pay the least for material which the company has to move to a different country. Yet rommey says he can produce jobs when the manufacturing plants are being in china, mexico, Singapore, etc etc. I have used gowns yes surgical gowns that say made in china assemble in mexico. WTF we have qualified workers in the USA to be producing this gowns. The economy in the USA can be solved by buying nothing from other countries. This two presidents are going at each other and I still haven’t heard how they are going to fix the economy.I say common sense can bring the economy back. Rommey I want to know the truth just say it .Middle class or 47% I am going to screw you. Obama you got my vote.
Scrivener
October 8th, 2012
9:53 pm
Mary Elizabeth, Paul Krugman is a joke. He’s a Nobel prize winner. Whoopee. That means absolutely nothing to a lot of people who see that prize for what it is, especially after they gave it to Obama and Yassar Arafat. James Taranto of the WSJ has been posting Krugman’s contradictions and distortions for years. And you still haven’t given any specifics on all these lies. I won’t hold my breath.
Go Gators!
October 8th, 2012
10:18 pm
Just a question – how does berating everyone on the other side make any of you feel better? I’m voting for Romney strictly from an economic standpoint – I feel that Obama has a very strong belief that wealth should be distributed – not earned. The rise in unemployment / food stamps / poverty over his tenure show that his policies do not work. That and $6 Trillion in new debt.
But at the end of the day, do any of you think that insulting others on this board with another point of view will change that point of view? I would make the argument that those posting are the ones that there is no chance of changing who they are going to vote for. We’re all fighting for the 10% (give or take) of independents / undecideds out there.
Which to me is amazing – in an election where there could not be more at stake and more of a complete difference between the two candidates, it amazes me that there are any undecideds left.
Just my two cents.
Hilga
October 8th, 2012
10:57 pm
If you could vote for anyone from Condoleezza Rice to your next door neighbor for President, who would you choose?
Sadly, we can’t “choose” our ideal, or maybe even just an OK candidate to run for Presidency.
Instead we have to “decide” who we DON’T WANT in office. Personally, I prefer someone who was born and raised as an American… LOVES America… and is committed to the American dream!
Mary Elizabeth
October 8th, 2012
11:01 pm
Here’s lie #10 told by Gov. Romney in the debate. Make sure you read the other nine in the link, provided below:
“10. No Tax Cuts for the Rich
To fend off the perception that he’s only concerned about the wealthy, Romney made sure to emphasize that his economic plan would not lower tax rates on rich people.
Think Progress has the details on that claim: “If Romney were to actually implement his plan to reduce tax rates by 20 percent while eliminating tax deductions in order to pay for it, taxpayers with more than $200,000 would certainly see a tax cut. But everyone else — 95 percent of Americans —will see their taxes increase.”
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/10-most-shameless-romney-debate-lies-debunked?page=0%2C1
FedUp
October 8th, 2012
11:03 pm
Obama is a total joke and him accusing Romney of lying is even funnier. That man has lied for 4 years. As the election draws near, people are finally realizing the man has no clue without a teleprompter in front of him.
Mary Elizabeth
October 8th, 2012
11:05 pm
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/10-most-shameless-romney-debate-lies-debunked?page=0%2C0&paging=off
Tom
October 8th, 2012
11:15 pm
I don’t want Bush policies to keep the economy from thriving for 4 more years – that’s why I will vote for Mitt Romney.
Reason
October 8th, 2012
11:35 pm
Mary Elizabeth likes links. So do I.
http://www.gop.com/news/research/12-obama-debate-lies-and-counting/
Fact is, Obama spent $1 billion per hour for the first 50 days in office. $1.2 trillion in just 50 days. And we have virtually nothing to show for it. There’s that hopey-changey thing he promised us. No thanks – I’ll try something else this time. Anything else.
RomneySucks
October 9th, 2012
12:08 am
Just what this country needs…..a president in 2012 that believes in Magic Underwear but not Global Warming.
NeedaNewLeader
October 9th, 2012
12:11 am
If so many people would take “race” out of this race, it would not even be close at this point. The biggest problem we face is all the uneducated voters out there that are going to cast their vote (for the 2nd time of their life) simply because a bi-racial candidate is running. Obama promised to cut the deficit in half and even said if he didn’t deliver on this promise, he would be a one term president. I make more money now than I ever have, yet bring home less each paycheck. Romney can’t possibly be as bad as Obama, therefore he has my vote. It’s not like he’s the only candidate to flip on some issues or tell a lie. ALL politicians lie!
Mary Elizabeth
October 9th, 2012
12:30 am
I don’t know why I even bother to support President Obama in this hardline Republican state that was once solidly a Dixiecrat Democratic state. The same hardline conservative views prevail here today – whatever the political label, Republican or Democrat, one gives oneself – as was true 50 years ago. Most people in this state are reinforced in their hardline conservatiave views by their friends and families to vote for a now-called Republican Party, instead of the old Dixiecrat Democratic Party, from where the new Republican Party in Georgia generated.
Rare is the person, in this state, who will speak up for President Obama, just as it was rare 50 years ago for a white Southerner to support the Civil Rights Movement, regardless of the moral justice of that cause. So, why are there few white Democrats in Georgia today? You know the answer and so do I. I is over and beyond race. It is called going with the crowd. That is so easy to do. And sad.
Mike Geigerman
October 9th, 2012
12:30 am
Clint Eastwood called it correctly. Boot Obama out of office.
Mike Geigerman
October 9th, 2012
12:32 am
Democrats are panicked in the moment ! But it will be a better country afterwards for them and their children.
S
October 9th, 2012
12:37 am
If this is the case, then I feel sorry for these people that were polled, because they will most likely be voting against their own self interest, by giving a vote to the Romney/Ryan ticket. They have been duped by the Extremist Right Wing Media, again. To be able to vote for two known fabricators “Liars” as Romney/Ryan are, is a vote for the destruction of their own way of life as they know it. The debate on Romney’s part was chuck full of LIES, how could any thinking person vote for a person who is so dishonest that would stand up there and lie right to their faces. Who could vote for such a person, like this, to be our President! It’s baffling, and shows these people are not paying attention to the facts that are available to them.
Romney is a War Monger who just today was banging the War drums again that will take their Sons from them, and some of those Sons will never come home again. Where will the money come from, will the Republicans borrow from China again, or was it Social Security that they borrowed from to fight the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Republicans spent us into oblivion during the Bush administration and almost took this country to it’s knees as a result. We can’t afford more of these failed Republican policies, we are in DEBT because of REPUBLICAN POLICIES! Romney/Ryan have every intention of continuing on with Bush Jr. policies, more WARS in foreign lands, more tax cuts for the Rich, deregulation that got us into the housing mess, destroying Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid and any other Social program that helps the Middle Class and the Poor. No thinking person would vote so as to create their own demise, would they? I sure hope not.
Tomorrow is the last day to register, get registered if your not, and vote on November 6. VOTE like your life and your loved ones lives depended on it, because it does.
Dave
October 9th, 2012
1:07 am
Seriously, do you really think Romney is only going to help the wealthy? If that is the case, he would only have four years in office. To date, Obama hasn’t been able to help anyone regardless of how much money they make. Look at Obama’s qualification before he was elected, he was a Senator for a couple of years in which he voted “Present” 65% of the time on any matters before the Senate. That is the guy leading the country down the whole today. At least he is “Present”……
Maggie Kennedy
October 9th, 2012
1:29 am
We in the peanut stalls, i.e. New Zealand, view the prospect of Mitt Romney as the next President of the USA with dread! Our only consolation is that he probably doesn’t know where that is – shhh. don’t tell him!!
Anna
October 9th, 2012
5:42 am
Romney is no better than a priest who speaks ill of all sinners in public while practicing pedophilia when no one watches. What a man says in public, no matter how eloquent or well spoken, can be compared with what he says and does behind closed doors. This time everyone had a chance to not only watch but listen to how Romney thinks behinds closed doors. Every one lies in the world, but not every one is stupid enough to get caught.
Bob
October 9th, 2012
6:27 am
Shine, why are we told about all these reforms repubs are blocking ? If dems wanted reform they could have given us reform, instead they gave 6 more trillion in debt.
Tedd
October 9th, 2012
6:36 am
Mitt will win this. Too many unemployed even after 4 years. Nothing changed except the plea “Give me 4 more years and the magic will happen”.
cc
October 9th, 2012
6:48 am
PAUL HARVEY’S ‘IF I WERE THE DEVIL’ TRANSCRIPT
If I were the devil … If I were the Prince of Darkness, I’d want to engulf the whole world in darkness. And I’d have a third of it’s real estate, and four-fifths of its population, but I wouldn’t be happy until I had seized the ripest apple on the tree — Thee. So I’d set about however necessary to take over the United States. I’d subvert the churches first — I’d begin with a campaign of whispers. With the wisdom of a serpent, I would whisper to you as I whispered to Eve: ‘Do as you please.’
“To the young, I would whisper that ‘The Bible is a myth.’ I would convince them that man created God instead of the other way around. I would confide that what’s bad is good, and what’s good is ‘square.’ And the old, I would teach to pray, after me, ‘Our Father, which art in Washington…’
“And then I’d get organized. I’d educate authors in how to make lurid literature exciting, so that anything else would appear dull and uninteresting. I’d threaten TV with dirtier movies and vice versa. I’d pedal narcotics to whom I could. I’d sell alcohol to ladies and gentlemen of distinction. I’d tranquilize the rest with pills.
“If I were the devil I’d soon have families that war with themselves, churches at war with themselves, and nations at war with themselves; until each in its turn was consumed. And with promises of higher ratings I’d have mesmerizing media fanning the flames. If I were the devil I would encourage schools to refine young intellects, but neglect to discipline emotions — just let those run wild, until before you knew it, you’d have to have drug sniffing dogs and metal detectors at every schoolhouse door.
“Within a decade I’d have prisons overflowing, I’d have judges promoting pornography — soon I could evict God from the courthouse, then from the schoolhouse, and then from the houses of Congress. And in His own churches I would substitute psychology for religion, and deify science. I would lure priests and pastors into misusing boys and girls, and church money. If I were the devil I’d make the symbols of Easter an egg and the symbol of Christmas a bottle.
“If I were the devil I’d take from those, and who have, and give to those wanted until I had killed the incentive of the ambitious. And what do you bet? I could get whole states to promote gambling as thee way to get rich? I would caution against extremes and hard work, in Patriotism, in moral conduct. I would convince the young that marriage is old-fashioned, that swinging is more fun, that what you see on the TV is the way to be. And thus I could undress you in public, and I could lure you into bed with diseases for which there is no cure. In other words, if I were the devil I’d just keep right on doing on what he’s doing. Paul Harvey, good day.”
#occupy reality...
October 9th, 2012
6:50 am
oh my God will you all please stop with this “wealthy” thing – how is not raising taxes rigging the entire system for the economic elite? Bottom like, Obama has added $6T to the debt – 60% – and we will be looking at 22-23T by the time he is done, giving us higher debt to GDP than Greece, Spain or Portugal – and just look at how swell life is for them! Gas doubled, employment stagnant, food stamps tripled, ss disability doubled, medical premiums went up 3K per family – please stop me when I get to the part where he does something to warrant reelection…
#occupy reality...
October 9th, 2012
6:54 am
OK Anna – do you want me to review the thousands of lies Obama has told repeatedly? If only your friends in the MSM would practice actual journalism, the man would be a laughing stock…wait, he is.
#occupy reality...
October 9th, 2012
7:00 am
Oh, and Pew also showed an 18 point swing among women, Gallup has Romney ahead by 2, and up by 16 among indies…
I guess when you get exposed as a total fraud on national TV, people start doubting your ability to run a hot dog stand and all this failure starts to make sense.