(This is a reader-created diary. To create your own, click the “New Diary” link in the menu to the right while logged in. New accounts must wait 72 hours before posting diaries. – promoted by Colorado Pols)
My friends on the left side of the aisle should take note of today’s Washington Post poll:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/…
After months of aggressive campaigning on jobs and the economy, President Obama and Mitt Romney, his likely Republican challenger, are locked in a dead heat over who could fix the problem foremost on voters’ minds, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.The parity on economic issues foreshadows what probably will continue to be a tough and negative campaign. Overall, voters would be split 49 percent for Obama and 46 percent for Romney if the November election were held now. On handling the economy, they are tied at 47 percent.
Despite flare-ups over issues including contraception and same-sex marriage, more than half of all Americans cite the economy as the one concern that will decide their vote in the fall, relegating others – such as health care, taxes and the federal deficit – to single-digit status.
Full story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/…
Despite the attempts by the left to sidetrack the most important issue facing Americans today, there is just no way to escape the weakened state of the American economy. This is the issue that will decide the election in November.
Barack Obama has presided over the most devastating economic downturn most Americans have ever known. Millions of Americans remain unemployed and underemployed. The attacks on Mitt Romney’s record as a businessman and job creator have failed. Unless there is a major, hockey stick turnaround that middle class voters can feel in their pockets before November, watch for Romney to pull away from Obama on the issue of handling the economy.
And if the economy will decide the election…
Full story: Washington Post: Obama, Romney, dead heat on the economy
I did not except to see this promoted.
I just wish you had written more about how you think this will play out – and why.
But now comes the hard part, responding with reasoned arguments to the coming comments…
We’ve all (as in, all the frequent posters who lean Dem) said we’d love to see Republicans post more diaries here, provided the quality and level of thoughtfulness are greater than or equal to the average for the site. (So more like Jason, less like Algernon…)
If the best that RomneyBot 1 & 2 have gotten out of months of free shots on the President is a dead heat, then the election is over…they lose.
The attacks on the Romney’s record as a vulture capitalist (a repub term no less) are just starting to take hold…and as his dismal record as a job creator as Gov of Mass. starts to get out, it just gets worse.
But now you have to answer this question – why do the Romneybots hate veterans? Why is there still NOTHING about veterans and military affairs from the campaign?
His he still shaking the Etch-a-sketch on this?
Assuming the economy does not take a dramatic turn in one direction on the other, the issue will be how is the economy doing (meaning jobs) in the few states that will decide the election. It does not really matter how voters in California, Utah, Mississippi, or New York feel about the economy. It will matter in Ohio, Florida, and Colorado.
If the economy just continues on as it has (not too good, but better than two years ago), Romney still has to distinguish himself from a damaged republican brand (Bush, obstructionist Congress), to convince voters he would be a change for the better.
…of this poll is that is egregiously under samples R’s and over samples Dems, and Obama is still in the soup.
Via Ed Morrissey.
The distractions aren’t working, the hypocritical Bain idiocy isn’t working, etc.
Here is what it looks like when reality crashes up against a campaign trying to distract from the fact that they’ve failed in nearly every arena, particularly economic:
There’s some CNN footage every American needs to see.
Howzabout the Fox News poll that has Obama up 8 points? Do either of you care to perform a ballistic rectal extrapolation on how those numbers are false?
http://www.foxnews.com/politic…
Or how about the poll that has Obama up 7 points just with veterans? I’ll even sleaze up my web browser and go to goddamn DRUDGE REPORT for the link:
http://www.drudge.com/news/156…
I’m sure one of you has a thoughtful reply. I’m sure the other one must don his Romneybot-issued kneepads before being handed his reply.
I liked you wrote it even if I don’t take every pronouncement that you make as God’s truth.
The one on the Bain ads is a case in point. You claim that they have failed but Michael Bennet’s ad’s attacking Buck as too extreme didn’t really seem to take hold until the end but it was the cumulative force of the message that got through. These ads are just setups for highlighting he record as the one term governor from Massachusetts. He can’t boast of his accomplishment on health care programs otherwise he endorses the Affordable Care Act in practice. And his job creation history is dismal. There’s more to come as they would say.
Because based on this poll, they have failed. The race is instead tightening.
Article – http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/E…
Poll it cites (.pdf, less than 300K):
http://images.businessweek.com…
But, as usual, your casual use of inappropriate verbs is at play here.
Presided? Does that mean…”responsible for”? That is your implication. A weak president would not have been able to pull us out of the depression nearly this far.
If John Mccain and Sarah Palin were in the white house, where would we be?
On the other hand, if “Wormtongue” McConnell and the Tan Man were trying to help instead of trying to sink the boat, where would we be?
Mittens worships at the altar of Milton Friedman. If you want to see what the USA looks like as a third world country…vote for Mitt.
Just proves that the meme about the liberal establishment press is a bunch of BS. Arap GOP did you even bother to look at the poll?
1. A large majority blame Bush and not Obama for the economic problems. http://www.washingtonpost.com/…
2. Rmoney is actually down in his rating on being better able to handle the economy from 50% in February to 47% in May while Obama is actually up from April at 44% to May 47%. What this proves is that the attacks are actually working. http://www.washingtonpost.com/…
3. Same thing with respect to their overall poll standing. Obama is up from 46% in January to 49% today and Rmoney is downfrom 48% in January to 46% today. http://www.washingtonpost.com/…
4. Look at the question about whether people think the problem with the economy is unfairness in favor of the rich or over-regulation. Again Obama wins handily and his margin is increasing. http://www.washingtonpost.com/…
5. And just overall, look at the numbers favoring Obama,standing for what they believe (51-38), character (52-38) and understands economic problems (48-40).
So, I reach the opposite conclusion. The attacks on Rmoney are working just as expected. The poll shows that 23% of registered voters haven’t really focused on this election and most of them are independents. I think you’re wrong if you think that these attacks aren’t going to have future affect as we get closer to the election.
What you have done is taken a story written by a writer who has his/her own biases and bought that writer’s bias, hook, line and sinker. This is exactly what REpublicans do all the time. Remember you guys are the ones who invented the “Some will say” mantra to try to turn facts that you don’t like into opinions that you want the press to report. I always look at the source. The source here tells me nothing more than we have all known for quite some time, the election will be close and the economy will decide it.
So we’re ignoring the President’s 3-point lead and instead focusing on Romney tying the President on economic issues…also ignoring the enthusiasm gap, where half the President’s supporters say they are “very enthusiastic” about November versus only 23% of Romney’s…also ignoring the further question in the poll: when asked, regardless of whom they support, who would do a better job at creating jobs, which is ranked the number 1 concern for the economy by the vast plurality of respondents, Obama leads by 3 again? Not to mention the President leads in every personal indicator, including ‘who has the best personal character to be President’ which he leads by 14 points. Finally, the biggest lead the President has is in the message, 56% of respondents said the biggest problem in the country is the unfairness of the economic system versus just 34% that said that it is the over-regulation of the free market. This is where Obama has the advantage, because he’ll be hammering home the message until election day.
For those of you complaining about the sampling, its generally in line with the national state of things. Republican registration has been steadily dropping since 2004, to be about 22-25%. Independent registration has been on the rise, to be around 38%, and Dem registration has hovered around the 32-33% mark for quite some time. Besides, the regular PPP poll vastly oversamples Republicans and still returns (once again, regularly) an Obama win.
And as for trying to sidetrack the issue, we aren’t doing that. You are. It was the GOP that decided to get into a fight over birth control, abortion restrictions, immigration, and a whole host of other matters when they elected radical far-right delegations to their state legislatures, and then let them run wild. Meanwhile, Dems have been focusing on keeping the GOP from destroying American jobs, both private and public, while simultaneously fighting to protect the rights of women, minorities, students and the elderly. Attacks on Romney’s business record failed? No. It has vastly succeeded in motivating Democrats who support the President but have been lulled into apathy by the psychotic energy of the Tea Party. And its still very, VERY early in the cycle. Come October and the debates, I think we’ll see even Rasmussen report that President Obama is on his way to a landslide victory against the GOP’s sacrificial lamb. The only question now is if Hillary will run in 16′, or if we’ll have to settle with Biden and risk another close election (which may once again be against Mittens unless Santorum can build his image and campaign a bit better).
After a lengthy dissertation like that, they usually ask me who I work for.
…
a touch…I do confess…
Interesting. I thought otherwise.
How will the Eggmendment Round 3 play in CO, along with the GOP War on Women(tm)?
Maybe Mike will continue channeling Joe? Josef Coors might help, eh? I hear he’s in the running for a ‘young gun’ status–maybe he’ll swing the youth vote to Willard?
Oh, and people are PASSIONATE about the 3rd CD! (They just are passionate about the gourd…no the shoe…!)
That Romney is getting a little national bump right now is not surprising nor unexpected.
State-by-state polling–particularly those that are on the electoral path to victory–is the better prognosticator from here on out. So, congrats on getting a diary front-paged. Speaking as a critic, I find the ‘analysis’ shallow…
We know.
“Yeah, even though our guy’s a vulture, a fraud, a waffler, a draft dodging coward, a liar, and a guy with no spine even less of a plan, other than to hit Iran, (’cause he’s a Dirty Harry tough guy) raise the deficit by a trillion, and to end Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security as we know it, he’s still in it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You’re literally saying, “So what he’s a shitbag…….he’s our shitbag, and tht means even tanking the economy’s worth it, ’cause he’s on our “team”.
Jesus, you morons think of the future of the country you and, perish the thought, your offspring will live in less than whether or not your fucking “team” wins.
Middle School kids think stuff through more than you idiots!
Unbelievable!
I agree that the economy will be issue #1. And Obama has not done a great job. He ignored it in actions, efforts, and political speech for about 2½ years (he’s now focused on it because of the election). If Romney can sell that he would do significantly better, he’ll win. If Obama can sell that Romney will suck as bad as he does, then he wins.
This is why the focus by Obama will remain on Romney’s job history – he’s very weak there. If they can get that across then Obama can win the argument that Romney sucks worse.
With all that said, if the economy becomes a tie, then the social issues will decide the election. And on those, with the voters in the middle, Obama wins. Romney knows that. So Obama will also focus on the social issues and Romney will try to redirect to the economy.
And all the polls we have right now? Pretty much worthless this far out.
Capitalism creates winners and losers and always will. But Bain Capital created more jobs than it euthanized. Because of this, I believe Romney’s private sector history is one of his best qualifications for President.
47th out 50th….that’s got to be some kind of record.
(In case you get your Reagan print panties in a knot, here’s a link to NATIONAL REVIEW):
http://www.nationalreview.com/…
Bonus quote:
So, ArapaBot, the same logic you cite in the WashPo poll as proof that Obama has failed to create job is the excuse that the RomneyBots get to trot out when their record is challenged?
Which is it?
And by the way, I will hound you on this site until you deal with my question about your bullshit candidate and his record on veterans.
BELIEVE IT.
And then left the over-leveraged remains to go bankrupt. Profitable for Bain, not so much for anyone else associated from laid off employees to the community businesses to the stockholders to the…
You just made up the comment about Bain jobs. That information is not public.
Vulture capitalism: Buy control of a company; use the pension funds to take out huge loans; layoff huge nubers or workers or declare bankruptcy; screw the pensions of the retirees.