WASHINGTON — New polls suggest President Barack Obama has opened a clear lead in his re-election race over Mitt Romney, raising the stakes for the Republican challenger in a crucial month for his campaign. Obama is ahead nationally and in most of the dozen swing states that will decide the November 6 election, as Romney prepares for two pivotal moments — his selection of a running mate and his primetime convention speech.
Several days of polling suggests that the Democratic incumbent's attempt to fix and image of Romney in the minds of voters as a rich businessman oblivious to the struggles of the middle class may be working. And they also indicate that, while Americans are in a ornery mood after years of economic pain and do not expect Obama to offer immediate relief, they have an increasingly unfavorable view of his opponent Romney.
A Fox News national poll put Obama ahead, at 49 per cent to 40 per cent over Romney while a CNN poll had Obama at 52 per cent, seven points up on the former Massachusetts governor. A Pew Research poll last week had Obama up by 10 points. The polls follow a punishing few weeks for Romney, who has been pummeled by the Obama camp's negative advertising blitz, had his tax plan and personal tax arrangements savaged and endured bad headlines for a foreign trip.
Obama's gains appear to reflect improved ratings among the independent voters who often tip the scales in US elections. CNN had Obama up by 53 per cent to 42 per cent among this subset of voters, while Fox News had the president up by 11 percentage points among independents, up from a four per cent lead last month.
"The events of the past two weeks appear to have energized Democratic voters a bit," Fox News quoted its pollster Daron Shaw as saying.
"The Obama campaign has — at least in the short-term — succeeded in raising questions about Romney's fitness to govern and in making this less of a referendum and more of a choice election." In the CNN poll, 48 per cent of those asked had an unfavourable view of Romney, up six points from last month. The Fox poll had Romney's unfavourables at 45 per cent, up five per cent on last month.
National polls, while useful snapshots of political opinion, do not tell the full story of the presidential race, which is a state-by-state battle to pile up the 270 electoral college votes needed for victory. But polls in those critical states that swing between Democrats and Republicans, also show Obama in the lead, albeit with much smaller margins than in the national polls. — AFP
