Posted on 06/09/2011 12:06:26 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
By 45 percent to 42 percent, likely U.S. voters said they would prefer a generic Republican candidate to President Barack Obama in a 2012 presidential matchup, according to a poll released this week by Rasmussen Reports. That’s the second week in a row Obama has “lost” to a faceless candidate.
Men especially want a president from the Grand Old Party — they gave the generic candidate an eight-point boost over Obama. Middle-income voters also favored the Republican. Younger voters, not surprisingly, favored the incumbent, and the vast majority — 96 percent — of black voters also supported Obama.
Importantly, though, in every Rasmussen 2012 election poll of this year, Obama has had support of no more than about 42 percent to 49 percent. As the poll summary points out, “An incumbent who earns support below 50 percent is generally considered politically vulnerable.” That impression is especially underscored by this most recent poll.
Thank you, Mr. Rasmussen, for recognizing what so few pollsters seem to: Head-to-head match-ups between Obama and specific candidates for the Republican nomination cannot possibly reflect the extent to which the voting public just might want to see a change in the White House.
True, in those one-to-one comparisons, Obama consistently edges out all the GOP potentials except for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney — and that suggests voters still tend to think of Obama as more prepared for the presidency than any of the right’s primary contenders. In fact, the Rasmussen poll confirms that:
Interestingly, however, while 54 percent of voters view Obama as qualified to be president, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is the only Republican 2012 hopeful that a sizable number of voters considers qualified for the White House. Forty-nine percent (49%) say Romney is qualified to be president.
But that will change when Republicans have an actual nominee. Voters will automatically start to look at that candidate as from a slightly more presidential cast.
In the meantime, the two-week trend away from Obama and toward a generic GOP-er appropriately mitigates the impression created by polls that show Obama outstripping GOP candidates who haven’t yet had a chance to make a powerful impression on the national stage.
Thought it had already been established here that all polls lie. How can this one be correct.
Somebody needs to take a poll on how many of us would prefer a blind and lame Blue Tick hound dog to ObaMao. I know I would.
If only we could get a generic Republican to run, we’d have it made!
Hey that means I can run. I think I will announce right now. I am running for President of the United States effective now. I am pro-life, small government supporter, pro- 2nd Amendment, supports homeschool but also supports Catholic and private schools; wants to abolish the IRS immediately. Flat tax of 20 percent with 5 percent going DIRECTLY to the debt. So I guess i should get about .000003 percent of the votes.
Oh I am eligible for President as I was born to two American parents....I am over 35 years old.
I feel Baraq is a sure loser in any 2-way matchup.
But likely to win a Clintonian plurality in a 3-way.
I think the Baraqqi Coalition can deliver 37% of the vote no matter what happens.
I hear he/she is a rather bland, but costs a little less.
Show me a generic Republican, BTW. All of the choices presented to us by the elite are loudly and clearly politically correct.
WHO IS MR. or MS. GENERIC REPUBLICAN?
Please tell me it’s not Romney... but Myth IS kinda faceless...
Pfffft...I am so sick of this krap being rammed down our throats by pollsters and the media that Americans want a ‘generic’ candidate. That would mean Americans didn’t give a flip what stance the man in the White House takes...like funding the Muslim Brotherhood, wars with no mission, a tanked economy where they have no jobs or income, and our treasury being stolen blind by bailouts of companies and other countries!
FIE on these people and their brainwashing. Americans are flat out freaking tired of the current government and their mushy mouthed promises going on for five years now by progressive commies in BOTH parties protecting their power.
We want a candidate willing to hit DC with both feet and start slashing and burning government agencies and fraudulent spending policies and who will STOP pushing for more taxes and running up more debt! AND WE WANT THAT CANDIDATE NOW!
we need to find this faceless republican and get them to run !
I think someone should changed their name to “generic republican” and run !
Hey, that’s MY tagline!
“WHO IS MR. or MS. GENERIC REPUBLICAN?”
Pawlenty’s about as generic as they come, isn’t he?
Out of 100 issues, it only takes two or three issues to remove a non generic from consideration.
This is why the left is so anti-Palin.
They know that Obama is likely to lose the race due to the economy.
The want a comfortable RINO to be the R candidate so they will not be offended when the R wins. I have some very liberal friends here in Chapel Hill who will not vote for Obama again, which means they will stay home.
And, it all comes down to who will pick the SCOTUS nominees that will choose to look at, or not look at, Roe v. Wade again.
RE: we need to find this faceless republican and get them to run !
The problem is this — once we put a face to this person and then find out what he stands for, his poll numbers start to drop several points below the “idealized” candidate.
Now this is more like it. I think a generic honey badger should be polling ahead of Obama.
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