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
sambo
October 9th, 2012
7:02 am
Sambo done voted 6 times theys needs to send me some more vote money gas is high
RE-ELECT PRESIDENT OBAMA CAMPAIGN
October 9th, 2012
7:17 am
Sambo, keep on voting. Your check is in the mail!
Mary Elizabeth
October 9th, 2012
9:54 am
October 9th, 2012
9:39 am
“Right now, Romney is described as going with the flow, trying to quickly grow into this new public persona, most notably with his decision to tell personal stories on the stump.”
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Style vs. Substance. Many people, I suppose because they are young or at least younger than my generation, do not understand why the1960s “social revolution” was as fervent and intense as it was.
Many young people thought that too many of their elders were living out preordained, expected “images” of what they should be, instead of living out who they authentically were. That falseness resulted in unhappiness personally, and within families. The young people of the 60s questioned the values of the society in terms of perceptions related to race, sexual roles, unquestioning patriotism related to war and the killings in war. (”Look Who’s Coming to Dinner,” “The Graduate,” “Coming Home” with Jane Fonda, regarding the Vietnam War) The country became divided as witnessed in the horror of the Kent State University killings by policemen of college students who were protesting those superficial values, as they saw it, within American society. The country became divided on the Civil Rights Movement where little black school girls were murdered in Alabama. The nation has remains divided today. Evolution of consciousness takes time.
In Romney, I see a man trying to live out an acceptable image without a core of depth, and in Obama I see a man who is living out who he is authentically is. Moreover, it is the policies of Romney that are important, not his style or whether he appears “stiff” of not. His policies reflect the mindset of the 1950s – an America that values “strength” through toughness in its foreign policy, where there is a definite class demarcation among people based on wealth and status, where men and women have defined roles, and where kindness comes from what one “shows” rather than who one “is.”
Obama’s policies not only lifted this nation economically from the pits of a near Depresssion, but they reflect the America that has confirmed that the social revolution of the 1960s has made America better and stronger in reality, not just in image. Obama’s values and policies also reflect belief that America has emerged the better for having been transformed by the 1960s into a nation that values authenticity, racial equality, sexual equality, leading the world through its moral authority – as George Washington had modeled for posterity – rather than through intimidation. Obama knows that real strength does not come through the projection of surface images, but of the authenticity of that internal strength that can say to his subordinates “Find Osama bin Laden bring him to justice” as his #1 foreign policy goal.
Image vs. authenticity. Style vs. Substance. Lies v. Truth.
I support Obama for many reasons and among those reasons are the ones I just described.
Scrivener
October 9th, 2012
11:06 am
Mary Elizabeth, really? Altenet and Think Progress? How would you like me to give you some links from Weekly Standard, Daily Caller or World Net Daily to read? I didn’t think so. You’re saturated in your own universe much like a fish who doesn’t know it’s wet.
Mary Elizabeth
October 9th, 2012
2:31 pm
I know that you are all wet, Scrivener.
And, I know what has been happening in this state and in this world for the past half century. You, on the other hand, have your eyes and your mind closed, imo.
Scrivener
October 9th, 2012
3:09 pm
I’m not terribly worried about your skewed opinions, Mary Elizabeth. Keeping drinking your Kool-Aid.
Hulk
October 9th, 2012
3:19 pm
@ DJ Wannabe…..So let me get this straight…I’m ignorant because I made a comment about how Obama doesn’t do as well without his teleprompter? Yea you got me….I was making an observation and I am right about that observation. Sorry it bothers you so much. Indeed many politicians use teleprompters, but the fact is Obama is supposed to be this great Orator and couldn’t even hold his own with the so called “LIAR” as many libs would like to describe him as. Pretty IRONIC considering there are many many things Obama could be called a liar for. Get off your high horse and vote on substance and not hype. Obama has been terrible and it’s time for a change.
Mary Elizabeth
October 9th, 2012
3:48 pm
Scrivener, 3:09 pm
Personally, I enjoy a nice Merlot. I’ll leave the Kool-Aid, as well as the use of “Kool-Aid” language to be able to express oneself, to those with thinking such as yours.