President Obama’s attacks on Bain, his deportation order, his gay marriage evolution, his massive spending advantage — all have failed to move the dial nationally, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll. The Obama campaign will argue that he’s focusing on gaining an edge in swing states and among certain demographics, but this is still a grim picture for them. Despite his significant advantages during the past few months, his national support has flatlined. What’s going to happen once the fundraising playing field evens out?
Despite months of negative advertising from Mr. Obama and his Democratic allies seeking to further define Mr. Romney as out of touch with the middle class and representative of wealthy interests, the poll shows little evidence of any substantial nationwide shift in attitudes about Mr. Romney. …
The new poll shows that the race remains essentially tied, notwithstanding all of the Washington chatter suggesting that Mr. Romney’s campaign has seemed off-kilter amid attacks on his tenure at Bain Capital and his unwillingness to release more of his tax returns. Forty-five percent say they would vote for Mr. Romney if the election were held now and 43 percent say they would vote for Mr. Obama.
When undecided voters who lean toward a particular candidate are included, Mr. Romney has 47 percent to Mr. Obama’s 46 percent.
The tax return attack on Romney hasn’t worked because the American people don’t get worked up about that issue. The media and political establishments care — the general public not so much.
Obama’s pandering to various interest groups doesn’t seem to have made much of a dent either, and it’s pretty clear why. He can promise whatever he wants, but he’s just not reliable. Americans trusted him in 2008 when he campaigned as a Washington reformer, and it was only after his failures started piling up when he told them about the fine print — that “change takes time” and “doesn’t happen overnight.” People aren’t mad, they’re disappointed, and they’re not likely to be in the mood for lofty promises this time around.
Charles Murray has written briefly on the President's latest and "horrendous political gaffe." n nHe mentions the sensation of being in an occupied country. n nI recently read Coming Apart and was surprised by Murray's last few paragraphs in the portion describing Belmont. He attempted to coax social and moral engagment out of the bourgeoise by appealing to their self-interest and love of Country. n nMurray designates President Obama not as anti-American but as unAmerican. I think both he and the bourgeoisie are even further removed than that. I think the construct of Country has collapsed for these folks. Their self-interest you may appeal to (a morality, it has to be admitted, drawn through the eye of a needle) but love of Country, here, is less a question of aversion than prosopagnosia.
Obama's hosed out a hundred million on this attack line and it's gotten him zippo. Tomorrow both campaigns have to file cash reports with the FEC, it's going to be very interesting to see how much each side has on hand. I think Obama spent himself into a deep hole with this one.
> President Obama’s attacks on Bain, his deportation order, n> his gay marriage evolution, his massive spending advantage — n> all have failed to move the dial nationally n nI love the way the Commentary writers have started moving the goalposts:-) Their standard line of attack used to be that Obama was doomed because of his numerous missteps, anti-American policies and recent bad news about the economy. Whereas the Romney campaign has been playing it quite safe since the Etch-a-sketch gaffe, not making that many mistakes. And the end result of it all? Romney remains stuck at 45% in the horserace polls month after month, whereas Obama stays in the 46-48% zone. Don't worry, though: nowadays the great news is Obama isn't growing stronger. Of course, Romney has no obligation to break out of the 45% zone before November! But it is worth noting even John Kerry managed to reach the 48% mark in the summer of 2004 as GW Bush was hitting a rough spot. n nScary thought: what if the economy does NOT grow appreciably worse before the election? If that happens, how do you guys think Romney is supposed to overtake Obama? I think it's time to panic: put Paul Ryan and his Plan for ending Medicare etc. as we know it on the ticket and start talking about Jeremiah Wright & Tony Rezko again:-) n nMARCU$