Ohio poll: Obama leads by 5 percentage points (O 51% R 46%;Breakdown - D 48% R 42% I 10% )

CantonRep ^ | Sept 23, 2012 | Tim Botos

[Red Steel]

Mitt Romney keeps telling Ohioans they are worse off than four years ago — but a majority of you are not buying it.

Six weeks before Election Day, President Barack Obama holds a 51 to 46 percent lead in the state over his Republican challenger, according to the most recent Ohio Newspaper Poll of likely voters.

The poll, taken between Sept. 13 and Tuesday and jointly paid for by the eight largest circulating newspapers in Ohio, including The Repository, was conducted by the Institute for Policy Research at the University of Cincinnati.

The results are similar to those found in the latest national polls. Experts say the numbers are probably a symptom of the battering the Romney campaign has endured in the past several weeks.

“It’s kind of snowballing,” explained Dan Birdsong, a professor of American politics at the University of Dayton.

Romney has absorbed word of internal friction within the campaign; questions about his foreign policy following comments in the wake of violence in Egypt and Libya; and the ‘47 percent’ video.

Clearly, pollsters say, the economy is a huge issue for voters. Dissecting poll results, Romney leads in three subgroups — age 65 and older, males and whites. Obama boasts giant margins among those ages 18 to 29, women, blacks and voters with only a high school diploma or less.

LOCAL SUPPORT

Both campaigns plan to bounce through Ohio this week, trying to gain a stranglehold on the state’s 18 electoral votes.

Romney and running mate Paul Ryan embark on a five-city, three-day bus tour, beginning on Monday. The trip includes a stop in Cleveland on Wednesday — on the same day that Obama visits Kent.

Such campaign swings typically help solidify the faithful.

People such as William Disman of Alliance, who voted for Obama in 2008. Disman said the president deserves four more years. The 66-year-old retiree said Obama has been hamstrung by partisan politics in Washington D.C.

“If he can get a Democratic congress, he’d be able to get a lot more done,” Disman said .

Lisa Atkins of Louisville, a divorced former stay-at-home mom who just entered the workforce, isn’t about to leave the Romney camp. In fact, she’d vote for anyone but Obama. She said she relates to Romney on moral issues.

“His (respect for) Christian values is one of the biggest things; this country was founded on God,” she said.

Both campaigns likely will ramp up efforts to influence independent voters, as well. According to the poll, these kind of voters appear less interested in the race and less likely to turn out for the Nov. 6 election. Next

OPTIMISTIC OHIOANS

Romney has vowed to approve the Keystone Pipeline, slice government bureaucracy, replace the Affordable Care Act health care law, introduce tax cuts and cut the spending deficit. His message to voters across the nation has been: The U.S. is worse off than when Obama took office.

That stance isn’t resonating in Ohio, though, according to the poll. It revealed 41 percent of Ohioans believe they are about the same as in 2008, and 23 percent feel they are better off than four years ago.

“That is a bad strategy in Ohio,” explained William Cunion, a University of Mount Union political science professor.

At the same time Romney laments economic conditions in Ohio, voters are peppered with signs of a turnaround. The state’s unemployment rate of 7.2 percent is a full point below the national average, and Gov. John Kasich recently touted the creation of 122,000 jobs within the state.

[spintreebob]

Since we are on the right side, we should be getting 90% of the vote. Why are pro-life burger flippers voting for Obama? Why are pro-gun NASCAR fans voting for Obama? We need to find out why we are failing to connect with them.