http://www.rasmussenreports.com/pub...12_presidential_election/obama_41_ron_paul_37 Congressman Ron Paul may be a long shot to win the Republican presidential nomination, but he runs competitively with President Obama right now. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely Voters shows Paul picking up 37% of the vote, while the president earns 41%. The Texas congressman joins Mitt Romney, Michelle Bachmann, and Rick Perry as candidates within hailing distance of the president at this time. Rudy Giuliani is another potential candidate who is considered a long shot for the nomination but is competitive with the president. The former mayor of New York City trails Obama by five, 44% to 39%. But the real story in the numbers is that the president continues to earn between 41% and 49% of the vote no matter which Republican is mentioned as a potential opponent. This suggests that the race remains a referendum on the incumbent more than anything else. Obama posts a 12-point lead over former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, 44% to 32%. Two Republicans can’t even get to 30% against the president. Businessman Herman Cain and former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, who served as Obama's ambassador to China, each earn 28% support. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, considered unlikely to run by most observers, trail the president by seven and nine points respectively. Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum trails by 14.
Paul is a Libertarian, which is the big news. Libertarians have never polled well enough to be within a couple points of the incumbent.
while this is good, my republican comment meant that they would vote for anyone against obama, why he is closest is probably because many obama backers also like paul
The numbers that should trouble President Obama are his own. In not one of the head-to-head matchups does he even get 50%. For an incumbent, that's not good.
Not Romney. Also, there's a huge number of undecideds in each poll. If they haven't gone for Obama yet, it's unlikely they will.
The problem I have with Paul is that power corrupts. Like most Presidentès candidates, they make promises but when they're actually doing the job the game changes. While I like some of what Paul says, I do not believe he would be able to effect the positive things that I'd want him to as he will have to deal with Congress & those who funded his campaign. On top of that Paul has some iffy social ideals, which while he states he'd keep them to himself, I don't know if he'd be able to really do that given the opportunity. So what we'd end up with is him dealing with a fiscal stalemate, meanwhile his social conservatism will rear it's head & be fully welcomed by at least one side of the aisle. So my bet would be that he'd try to kill SS & Medicare, not be able to enact much as far as getting big business out of government & then start enacting social reforms so as to not look lame duck & to try & ensure a second term.
and didnt see the thumbnail, romney does lead by 1percent...i think romney has no chance at the presidency though, once the daily show starts in on his magic underwear and his belief that ALL CHRISTIANS ARE GOING TO HELL
It means they're looking for other alternatives. If they haven't decided they like Obama after almost three years, it's unlikely he's going to be getting their support in 2012.
some are likely dems who arent showing support in these polls, but will likely vote the ticket on election day anyways
http://nationaljournal.com/columns/against-the-grain/obama-s-battleground-state-blues-20110726 The race for president isn’t a national contest. It’s a state-by-state battle to cobble an electoral vote majority. So while the national polls are useful in gauging the president’s popularity, the more instructive numbers are those from the battlegrounds. Take Ohio, a perennial battleground in which Obama has campaigned more than in any other state (outside of the D.C. metropolitan region). Fifty percent of Ohio voters now disapprove of his job performance, compared with 46 percent who approve, according to a Quinnipiac poll conducted from July 12-18. Among Buckeye State independents, only 40 percent believe that Obama should be reelected, and 42 percent approve of his job performance. Against Romney, Obama leads 45 percent to 41 percent—well below the 50 percent comfort zone for an incumbent. The news gets worse from there. In Michigan, a reliably Democratic state that Obama carried with 57 percent of the vote, an EPIC-MRA poll conducted July 9-11 finds him trailing Romney, 46 percent to 42 percent. Only 39 percent of respondents grade his job performance as “excellent” or good,” with 60 percent saying it is “fair” or “poor.” The state has an unemployment rate well above the national average, and the president’s approval has suffered as a result. In Iowa, where Republican presidential contenders are getting in their early licks against the president, his approval has taken a hit. In a Mason-Dixon poll conducted for a liberal-leaning group, Romney held a lead of 42 percent to 39 percent over the president, with 19 percent undecided. Even hyper-conservative Rep. Michele Bachmann ran competitively against Obama in the Hawkeye State, trailing 47 percent to 42 percent. For some time, the conventional wisdom has been that 2012 will be a close presidential contest, with a best-case scenario for Republicans of winning the race with a map similar to George W. Bush’s 2004 victory over Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. But if the president can’t turn things around, that logic could prove badly outdated. If Obama is struggling in the Democratic-friendly confines of Michigan and Pennsylvania (as recent polls have indicated), it’s hard to see him over-performing again in more-traditional battlegrounds such as Colorado, Nevada, and Virginia. Unless the environment changes significantly, all the money in the president’s reelection coffers won’t be able to expand the map; it can only defend territory that’s being lost. And just as House Democrats played defense to protect the growing number of vulnerable members in last year’s midterms, Obama is looking like he’ll be scrambling to hold onto a lot of the states that he thought would be part of an emerging Democratic majority.
I think Romney will get the Republican nod. That will infuriate those close to the the baggers that we may very well see a right wing independent who will seal the victory for Obama.
