Poll: Romney posts gains in swing states [Florida, Ohio and Virginia]

thehill.com ^ | 8/15/12 | Jonathan Easley

[Justaham]

Mitt Romney has posted gains in the 12 swing states that will be critical in determining the outcome of the 2012 election, according to a Purple Insights poll released Wednesday.

The new poll shows Romney with small leads in three of the biggest swing states on the map — Florida, Ohio and Virginia. Those three states have a total of 60 electoral votes.

The poll was taken after Romney picked Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) as his running mate.

“Taken as a whole, these data indicate a small bump in the immediate aftermath of the [Paul] Ryan [vice presidential] announcement,” the report from Purple Insights said. “Nonetheless it is also the first sign of positive momentum for the Romney campaign that we’ve seen in the Purple Poll in the last few months.”

[Jim Scott]

Good news but the percentage differents are mostly within the margin of error. I'm highly skeptical of these polls showing Obama running neck-and-neck with Romney. Polls are often skewed or the respondents simply don't vote as they tell pollsters they will e.g. Carter vs Reagan in 1980. Supposedly, Carter was neck-and-neck with Reagan until the last few days, then polling strangely ceased. Reagan won by a whopping 10% of the vote....a landslide. As Mark Twain once wrote: "History doesn't repeat - at best, it sometimes rhymes". Let's hope we hear poetry on election night.

[dogcaller]

As a Virginian, I can not believe that the Old Dominion will go for the Dark Lord again in November...not after electing McDonnell by a 19% margin in 2009. They were fooled by an imposter in ‘08 who ran as a ‘moderate’ against a tired old man. Within a year they realized they had been lied to.

[babble-on]

I’ve never heard of Purple Insights.

[JediJones]

Sounds like a greeting card company. Maybe they do polling as a side business.

[Catsrus]

I was polled here in Ohio earlier today by an organization called Independent Polling Research, or something like that. It was a computer call and i had to hit 1,2,3 for my answers. The first question asked was if I was a likely voter - if so, press 1 -which I did. I, of course, answered straight Republican to the other questions. Except I said I was an Independent. I am - I think independently and cannot support the RINO wing of the RNC.

[WOSG]

“Romney leads 48 percent to 46 in Ohio, after trailing 48 to 45 percent last month, and in Virginia, the poll showed Romney leading 48 percent to 45, after he trailed by 2 percent in July. “

They have Romney leading Florida as well.

As Ras has Romney up:

“Romney leads Obama by 48 percent to 47 in Florida, but the same poll showed Obama trailing there by 3 percent last month. “

As does Gallup:
“Romney led Gallup’s national daily-tracking poll 46 percent to 45 over President Obama in the four days prior to the Ryan announcement, and has led Obama 47 to 45 percent in the four days since. That’s a bump of 1 percentage point for Romney, although the daily Gallup poll has a 3 percent margin of error.”

These are small leads. But a small lead in these polls with undecideds is good for challenger Romney.

[RipSawyer]

I am still amazed that the Old Dominion was fooled in ‘08 along with the Tarheels! There is a tendency in North Carolina to sometimes feel superior to their South Carolina neighbors but we crazy Sandlappers did not fall for Obama and we certainly won’t fall for him this time either.