Romney closes in on Obama in new polls
AP Photo/Jae C. Hong
(CBS News) With the general election now officially under way, two new surveys show Republican Mitt Romney has closed in on President Obama, setting up a fierce fight for the White House.
In a Gallup/ USA Today poll of 12 swing states, Mr. Obama edges out Romney 47 percent to 45 percent -- that's within the poll's four-point margin of error and closer than Gallup's last swing state poll from March, when Mr. Obama held a nine-point lead.
On the critical issue of the economy, Romney has the advantage: In a direct comparison, 47 percent said Romney would do a better job managing the economy, while 44 percent said Mr. Obama would. As many as 60 percent said Romney would do a good job or very good job as president handling the economy over the next four years, while 52 percent said the same about Mr. Obama.
When it comes to who is more likeable, Mr. Obama beats Romney by a solid 27 points. USA Today points out that the candidate viewed as more likeable has won every presidential election since 1980. By a margin of 10 points, voters say Mr. Obama is more likely to care about the needs of people like themselves.
The states surveyed by Gallup and USA Today included: Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico,North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin.
A separate poll released Monday by Politico and George Washington University gives Romney a slight edge among likely voters, with 48 percent to Mr. Obama's 47 percent.
As in the Gallup poll, Romney has erased the lead Mr. Obama previously held -- in Politico's February poll, the president led by nine points.
In this new poll, Romney has a 10-point lead among independents and a six-point lead among those who say they are "extremely likely" to vote in November.
Voters in the Politico poll appear split over who would do a better job handling the economy: As for who would do a better job on the economy overall, Romney leads, 48 percent to 45 percent. But when asked who would specifically do a better job handling job creation, voters slightly preferred Mr. Obama, 48 percent to 46 percent.
The Politico poll shows that by a 10-point margin, more voters think Mr. Obama shares their values (50 percent to Romney's 40 percent).
"We're not there yet...it's still too hard for too many," a narrator says. "But we're coming back. Because America's greatness comes from a strong middle class. Because you don't quit. And neither does he."
The ad will air in the key states of Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Nevada, New Hampshire, Iowa, North Carolina, Florida and Colorado.
In response to the ad, Romney campaign spokesperson Amanda Henneberg said, "Americans will hear a lot from President Obama in the coming months, but what they won't hear from him is the fact that his policies have wreaked havoc on the middle class. After a doubling of gas prices, declining incomes, millions of foreclosures, and record levels of unemployment, Americans know they're not better off than they were four years ago."
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President Obama and Democrats have consistently fought against republican efforts that hurt struggling Americans. Bottom line republicans use the power of government to help corporations, big oil and the wealthy. Democrats use government to help average Americans.
So which party is on the side of struggling Americans? Democrats!
A new book by Robert Draper titled "Do Not Ask What Good We Do" documents how republicans conspired to block everything President Obama proposes to bring the country out of the economic mess that republicans created. Why aren't reporters asking republicans why voters should reward them with votes for their unpatriotic, despicable, treasonous acts?
Republican teabagging extremist bigoted insurgents like B itch McConnell can't accept a Black Democratic president and are being uncooperative doing everything in their power to make sure he fails.
President Obama's biggest mistake was expecting republicans to bargain in good faith when in reality they are sabotaging anything President Obama does that might help average Americans at every turn in order to defeat him. Republicans have more allegiance to Grover Norquist and his pledge of never raise taxes under any circumstance than the constitution and country. Whatever happened to country first. F"ing treasonous republican hypocrites.
Is anyone aware that Mrs. Romney suffers from Muliple Sclerosis?
But,then, I'm sure those of you knocking Mitt all over the place, don't care about that. Shame on you ALL.
Fooling everyone. Such Repub ignorant slobs. Uneducated, dense as metal and so very dumb.
So Romney says he was wonder as a governor as as CEO at Bain Capital. Let's investigate. Time will disclose him as a fraud. Not just to the educated but for the ignorant Republican.
Oh, you want more Mitt on the Olympics. Sure you do.
The bottom like is that Mitt financed the 2002 Winter Olympics
using our money. Yours and mine. He used the federal bailout program to give him $1.3 billion to fix it. Yet Liar Liar Mitt Romney says he is anti-bailouts and government.
Who lies more Mitt or the trolls who comment for his ruination of the USA.
Mitt is supposed to be important for 3 reasons but he was a failure in all of them:
Romney always likes to use government bailouts to run Bain Capital. Mitt used fed bailouts to save the Olympics and Senator John McCain said that this was a "national disgrace."