Despite Obama Carpet Bombing Romney Still Tops

In times like this, a good day for Barack Obama is anytime the dominant topic of discussion is anything but the economy. But, make no mistake about it; November's election is still going to be a referendum on the President's failed economic policies.

With the economy overwhelmingly the dominant issue in the election, there is growing bad news for the President. By more than 2:1, 63% to 29%, voters now believe Mitt Romney would be better at managing the economy than President Obama, according to a new USA TODAY/Gallup poll.

For the first time Mitt Romney has topped Barack Obama in the New York Times/CBS poll (47-46). Rasmussen has Romney up by 3 points (46:43). After a month of carpet bombing Romney with negative ads, the President has actually lost ground. According to the Real Clear Politics average of all polls between July 5 and July 22, Obama's 3.7 point advantage on June 27 has shriveled to just 1.1. Importantly, the trend is solidly in Romney's favor even as Obama is outspending him 2:1.

The NYT/CBS poll uncovered more problems for the President. By a margin of 55:39 voters disapprove of Obama's handling of the economy; a significant difference from the 44:48 results in April.

Further, the once-believed impervious favorability ratings of the President have started to erode. Barely a third of voters, just 36%, now have a favorable opinion of Obama, down from 42% in April.

For a while Obama appeared to be getting away with deflecting blame for the dismal economic performance, but those days appear to be going the way of his falling favorability ratings. A new poll conducted by The Hill found 66% of voters point the finger at "bad policy" from Washington for the weak economy. Obama gets most of the blame, 34%, while 23% blame Congress. Wall Street is the heart of the problem according to another 23%. Just 18% agree with the President – that it's George W. Bush's fault.

While Team Obama's attempt to make Romney the bogey man seems to be falling flat, the dismal economic data continues to drag Obama down. Recent headlines underscore the reasons for the deteriorating confidence in Obama and his policies found in the results of the new polling data:

New jobless claims jumped sharply last week to 386,000 (Los Angeles Times)

New claims for unemployment benefits rose sharply last week to 386,000, the biggest jump in more than a year as the labor market continued to show signs of struggling amid the weakening recovery.

US poverty on track to reach 46-year high; suburbs, underemployed workers, children hit hard (Washington Post)

The ranks of America’s poor are on track to climb to levels unseen in nearly half a century, erasing gains from the war on poverty in the 1960s amid a weak economy and fraying government safety net.

Analysts now expect sales to grow just 1%, which would be the lowest rate since Q3 2009, just as the U.S. exited recession. Analysts expect 5.9% profit growth, also the weakest since Q3 2009.

Three years since the recession ended, 43 states have yet to regain the jobs they lost in the downturn. The figure is a reminder of how weak the nation's job market remains.

"Revenue estimates for the back half of 2012 have been slowly working their way lower this year," Colas said. "This trend, however, has accelerated to the downside over the past 30 days and we are fast approaching levels where these estimates are unambiguously pointing to the risk of a U.S./global recession later into 2012 and 2013."

With more dismal reports published literally every day, it is understandable why Barack Obama would love for this election to be about anything but the economy. But, it won't be. As Romney said in April, "It's still about the economy, and we're not stupid." It looks like voters are starting to make up their minds.

I remember Carter.....I remember the gas lines, the economy, the misery index.

I KNOW that Obama and crew have been purposefully obliterating or obfuscating all data traces of the economic reporting indicators that would put him into Carter’s class. The information delivery system, the MSM, is Obama’s to command, but I see, still see a quiet inkling, dissatisfaction, KNOWLEDGE in most people that Obama’s economy is the equivalent of the Emporer’s New Clothes.

I KNOW there is a quiet contempt for Obama’s government, its policies, its actions and its lies. I pray the same tide besets him that fell on Jimmy Carter in 1980. NO ONE knew, or would at least, before the election, but when we woke up the day after, justice had been done, and we had a real President. I pray for the same here. I also pray that Mitt Romney can live up to the task.

The writing has been on the wall that Obama’s going to be slaughtered for at least 6 months now, the very idea that he was “inevitable” let alone that people bought into that nonsense shows just how out of touch Washington DC is with the rest of the nation.

Folks buying into that nonsense are WHY we were saddled with a pathetic class of candidates in the Primary.

This election is one thing and one thing only, an referendum on OBAMA, and he’s going to fail it miserably.

The internals of polls have shown that Obama has a 42-43% popular vote MAX, and thats if he runs a flawless campaign, and so far, his campaign is a joke. They knew for MONTHS Romney was going to be the opposition, and the best they can do is things like Bane Capital??? This guy is so politically tin eared he really believes that America is a center left nation and WANTS the socialist crap he’s selling.. he continues to double down on things that will never sell. He and those around him truly believe that in 2008, he won because he ran as a leftist, and folks want his policies, when in fact he ran because he wasn’t George Bush.

In 2012, Romney is going to win, and win BIG because, he’s NOT OBAMA. Its really nothing more complicated than that. How anyone serious could stand up and think for one minute that a president who is going to end his term with FEWER AMERICANS WORKING than the day he took office, had any chance at re-election is beyond me! Even CARTER managed not to do that. Obama is the first president in the modern age to be steward the economy so completely poorly.

Obama has not had 1 day of offense since it became clear Romney would be the nominee, not one, and its not from lack of trying. He can’t run on his record, because its one of failure all over the board, so he really thought attacking capitalism would somehow hurt Romney, and it won’t. He’s trying to win an election by launching ads that preach to his own kool aid drinkers and are found repugnant by most the rest of the electorate.

This is classic, this is what happens when you have someone who is politically inept, surrounds themselves with yes men, and is too arrogant to think his view could possibly be wrong. There is no one left, if there ever was, around this guy to tell him, what you are doing isn’t going to work, you are heading down a path of ruin. His own party members are running from him, no local politician, other than in the bluest of blue districts wants to be seen with him. They know which way the wind is blowing, and they want no part of the train wreck that is coming.

His advertising is TURNING more people away from him than motivating folks to vote for him. I’m sure he and those around him can’t remotely figure out why.

Now its still 3 months or so until election day, and I am sure there will be some fluctuations in this race, but Obama is in a can’t win position, and continues to shoot himself in the foot daily. He’s a political barney fife, just not as likeable.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.