Opportunity In the Making...

by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Liberty -vs- Tyranny

A new Pew Research Center poll just out provides some interesting information on the Obama Romney match up. Obama currently holds the edge in the "liked" category while Romney has the edge with voters when it comes to the "economy". Interestingly enough Romney holds the edge amongst those actively giving a lot of thought to the campaign.

There certainly is volumes that can, and should be be said on the values of educating oneself on the issues of the day and voting intelligently using the faculties of ones own mind. This of course is in direct opposition to catching a few sound bites that sound good and makes you "feel good" about the false comparisons of the two major party candidates.

All indications suggest that the 2012 vote will be a very close one. Barack Obama has never trailed Romney in head-to-head matchups with Romney over the past nine months. Obama currently holds a four-point advantage (50% to 46%) among all registered voters, which is not statistically significant. And if the higher engagement and interest among Republicans persists through the fall, that alone could reduce any advantage Obama has enjoyed.

For example, among the two-thirds of registered voters who say they have given a lot of thought to the campaign, 47% favor Obama and 50% Romney. Similarly, the race is tied among the roughly three-quarters who say they are closely following campaign news (48% Obama, 49% Romney). Obama holds sizable leads among voters who are less engaged with the campaign.

Candidate Romney has failed miserably in the arena of creating enthusiasm for his candidacy. He has been the flip flopper who seemingly has not found his own core set of principles. This plays poorly with the "educated" American electorate. As in... those who do not vote the squishy, feely, altruistic morality the collectivist mindset (the category which the majority of Americans actually fall into) places above that of substance and reality. For candidate Romney therein lies his greatest opportunity. If he finds the courage, and the chutzpah to grab it and run with it he could very well be the next President of the United States of America.

As is typical when incumbents are running for reelection, Barack Obama looms large in the choices of both Democratic- and Republican-oriented voters. Obama’s supporters back him strongly – as strongly as they did in 2008 – and say their vote is an expression of support for the president. And while there is a distinct lack of enthusiasm for Mitt Romney among many who intend to vote for him, their deep dislike of Obama shores up their support for Romney.

Fully 91% of Obama’s supporters have a favorable view of the president, while the same share of his opponents view him unfavorably. But there is an imbalance in the intensity of these feelings. Just over half (53%) of Romney voters have a very unfavorable opinion of Obama, as compared to 38% of Obama voters who have a very favorable opinion.

Romney voters’ intensely negative views of Obama are not matched by equally intense positive views of their own candidate. Although about three-quarters (74%) of those who intend to vote for Romney say they have a favorable impression of him, just 14% say that impression is very favorable.

Because of these differing views of the candidates, Democrats are clearly more enthusiastic about voting for Obama than Republicans are about voting for Romney: 60% of Obama’s supporters back him strongly; by comparison, just 38% of Romney voters support him strongly. An earlier Pew Research Center survey, conducted May 9-June 3, found 72% of Obama’s supporters saying their choice was more of a vote for Obama than against Romney. By contrast, most Romney voters (58%) described their vote as a vote against Obama rather than for Romney (38%).

While less enthusiastic, Republican voters are no less committed to seeing Romney win. Fully 87% of Romney voters say there is no chance they will change their mind, as do 81% of Obama supporters. Romney voters also are more likely to say it “really matters who wins” this election (69% vs. 63%). And as discussed in Section 1, Romney voters exceed Obama voters on key measures of engagement.

Please take another moment and visit the Pew Research Center to read the rest of the poll.

For those like myself who view both the Republican and Democrat 2012 presidential candidates as misdirected, unqualified, and lacking in inspiration there is a viable, qualified candidate with more executive experience than the other two candidate combined. He is Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson (be sure to click on the image for more info).

If we are to change American politics and reverse the nation's downward spiral we must start by changing the "twin" two party variants of the same befuddled and ultimately destructive ideology.

Perhaps it is time to start over from the basics. Which is of course to say rationally apply the logical classical liberal principles to today's realities.

Via: Memorandum