Obama vs Romney Polls: CBS New Poll Says Candidates Are Tied

Recently, CBS released a poll that summarizes information about the election this year. Obama leads 46% to 45% voting for Romney, allowing for the poll’s margin of error. Again, this election will be quite a close call. Here is a brief summary of what the results conclude:

1. Each candidate has a distinct group supporting him:  White evangelicals and Catholics, conservatives, and older people tend to favor Romney. White liberals, moderates, non-whites and younger people with college degrees support Obama. Romney represents the traditional Republican with 63% believing that notion. People seeking to go back to tradition will vote in favor of Romney. People who are eager to see the change that Obama had promised back in the elections of 2008 will vote for Obama.

2. Women favor Obama more than Romney: Obama leads slightly (51% to 41%) ahead of Romney. Certain topics like abortion are key to grabbing the women’s vote. 35% of people believe that abortion should be permitted in all cases, women (38%) and Democrats (49%) having the highest regards for this view. Obama’s pro-choice stance, will help gain women’s vote. Romney's belief that abortion is only acceptable in case of rape, incest, or endangerment of mother’s life probably reflects Obama’s favored vote of women. 

3. People are not overall satisfied with the president’s job, but still view him favorably: Democrats are more somewhat satisfied with Obama’s performance. Republicans are very disappointed in Obama’s performance (no surprise there). A majority of the independents are disappointed but some of them still plan on voting for Obama. Despite all the dissatisfaction towards Obama, 48% approve of Obama’s job as president currently. This view may because Obama relates to the general public and voters believe that Obama can understand the people.

4. It seems to be one of the biggest issues of the election is going to be the state of the economy: 54% of people disapprove of Obama’s handling the economy as opposed to 39% of people that are in favor. With the stagnant change in economy and unemployment rate at 8.3%, candidates’ plans on economic recovery will play vital in voter’s decisions. Most people believe that Romney will handle the economy better, but do not believe that he has a concrete plan.

5. 20% of Americans are not paying attention to the election this year: That is 1 in 5 Americans! With all the negative ads and hoopla, I do not blame a lot of people for not caring about the election. I find myself becoming agitated hearing another ad sponsored by Mitt Romney on my Facebook page or the ads about Obama bashing Romney on my Pandora account. Fortunately, I understand how important this election can be in shaping our economy and realize that it is important to vote.

Some people believe that their vote doesn’t have any input in the election and others become fed up with the negative ads surrounding each candidate, they have given up on the political scene Some view the economy worsening, they remain apathetic to the election because they believe neither candidate has a clear plan. Hopefully each candidate can muster up some enthusiasm for the upcoming election or we can expect a lower turnout rate than the election of 2008.