Obama still more liked than Romney despite poor debate

[highplainsdem]

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - Mitt Romney's strong debate performance did little to convince more voters he understands them or is a "good person" even though he has narrowed President Barack Obama's overall poll lead, according to a Reuters/Ipsos survey released on Saturday.

-snip-

On the broad question of who they will vote for in November, Obama kept his slim 2 percentage point lead over Romney among likely voters - 47 to 45 percent - in the online survey.

-snip-

"We haven't seen additional gains from Romney. This suggests to me that this is more of a bounce than a permanent shift," Ipsos pollster Julia Clark said.

-snip-

Forty-seven percent of registered voters deemed Obama "a good person," compared with 31 percent who felt that way about Romney. In a similar survey on September 28, Obama led by 43 percent to Romney's 32 percent.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/06/us-usa-campaign-poll-idUSBRE8931E420121006

---

I think it's significant that Obama gained 4 points and Romney lost 1 point on that question.

More poll results, for whether each candidate:

Is likeable - Obama 53, Romney 29

Has right values to be president - Obama 43, Romney 37

Understands people like me - Obama 43, Romney 31

Is eloquent - Obama 48, Romney 27 (dismal as that is for Romney, it was a 4-point gain)

Is tough enough to be president - Obama 42, Romney 38 (a 3-point gain for Romney)

Is fun to meet in person - Obama 48, Romney 24

Can be effective in Washington - tied at 37%

Is stronger on the issue of bipartisanship - Obama 34, Romney 27


According to Reuters, this new poll, conducted Oct, 2-6, "did not show Obama backers shifting to Romney. Rather, Romney's small gains on a few of the issues came from people who had been undecided."


Editing to add that Obama still leads in all these areas even though the people Reuters polled believed Romney did better in the debate (55 to 23).

[Andy823]

1. Good numbers for the president

With the media going on and on about Romney being the "winner" in the debate, the numbers don't seem to have change in his favor. Sure he was aggressive at the debate, but it was on lie after another and to me it seemed like he was trying to simply get president Obama angry so he could use one of his "zingers". It didn't work. Sure he got his base excited because he "attacked" but one problem was he was coming off as a "moderate", not the right wing hardcore conservative that the tea party base wants to see.

I really don't think that Romney did himself any good by lying so much. I am sure that not only will his lies be used in TV ads, they already are, but even the media that has him as the big winner, are pointing out some of those lies, and that's not going to be good for Romney in the long run.

I now think the the president can use the last debate, all the lies, in the next debates. If it were me every time he lied in the next debate I would simply remark that the fact checker are going to be busy "again" refuting what he is saying. While Romney thinks he can simply lie his ass off and not do himself any damage, he is wrong. It might be OK for those who are already going to vote for him, the fox news zombies, but people who are wise enough to check out his remarks will not be happy that he continues to lie to them, and give no specifics about how he will fix things, and where he will make cuts to pay for his tax cuts for his rich buddies.

[grantcart]

2. "still more likeable" lol You may think that Romney won the debate but nobody liked the guy.

[speedoo]

3. IMO, Romney's bump will be short lived.

Might be gone after the VP debate and will certainly be gone after the second presidential debate.

And when the bump is gone, Romney will have been exposed as a liar, and the election will be over.

[ailsagirl]

4. Hah! You beat me to it, highplainsdem

I was going to post this very article.

So long as we put it out!!

Cheers

[jonthebru]

5. One thing we each must do:

Notice how the right wing media is ignoring the current Republican voter fraud events happening all over the country?
Well, the Progressive Left has to learn to not run up our perceived problems, for example, for days "the poor debate performance" has been cited and talked about until I didn't want to hear anymore. Our President may have expected a different Rmoney and a different debate, but the perpetrated lies spouted by Rmoney was the real story that everybody should have been discussing. 27 lies in 38 minutes, and this bastard is running for President for heavens sake!

Positive engagement, positive engagement, positive engagement!

[Nancy Waterman]

6. I thought romney did better in the debate

but I came away feeling he was a bully and a liar. I liked him even less than before, though I thought he won.

[ailsagirl]

12. But really-- how could he win the debate if he spouted a pack of lies?

It's the content that matters when all the chips are down.

He might have been more "forceful," but I honestly think he came off as a blithering idiot.

Make that a blithering, LYING, idiot.

[magical thyme]

20. somebody who comes off as a bully and a liar is winning

only among a group of lying bullies.

For the rest of us, the bully and liar is not winning. No matter how many times the media repeats its mantra.

[MichiganVote]

7. I thinks its significant that Obama is considered to have had a "poor" debate

Sorry, he may have not been flashy but I don't think his performance was poor.

[Andy823]

9. I agree.

It's pretty much just media hype to keep this as a tight race so they can keep their ratings up. I actually think Romney did himself more harm than good, and it will be obvious in the next two debates. While Romney's ego is probably pretty inflated right now, the vast majority of people in the country just don't like the guy, and that didn't change after the debate. President Obama didn't lose really get hurt at all, no matter what the media and the nay sayers think!

[MichiganVote]

15. Rmoney is an asshole.And that's the nice thing I have to say about him. He's

not only a liar, he's a bad liar.

[Andy823]

21. I agree.

He is a bad liar, but one thing about him he is a consistent liar! If he is talking it's most likely that he is lying!

[progressivebydesign]

8. "despite" how about BECAUSE of?? Frankly, Romney turned so many people off with his antics..

I could not believe how rude and methed up he acted. Seriously.. I think he's on some sort of drugs. He was NOT likable at all..

[ailsagirl]

10. Well, there you have it

[Jamaal510]

11. I see both of them got pretty low numbers on the bipartisanship question...

Yes the president got a plurality, but both of their numbers were well below 50 percent.

[TomCADem]

13. It will be interesting to see how Romney's Attack, Lie style plays in townhall.

It is one thing to act like an ass in front of Jim Lehrer.

[Dawson Leery]

14. Should Romney repeat his performance, he will be "shutting down"

an average American citizen (since they will be asking the questions). That will not go over well.

[Javaman]

16. We may lose a battle now and then, but in the end...

winning the war is what matters.

Obama thinks long term.

mitten's strives for immediate gratification. He's already lost and he knows it.

[JI7]

17. Romney Sucked in the Debate

does it matter if you win a debate but the people who say you won still don't want to vote for you and still don't think you are a good person ?

debates are interesting this way. you can't just win . you have to change/keep the perception people have of you. the debate didn't change what people thought of Obama. they didn't think he suddenly didn't care about them , or anything like that.

ROmney was just a badgering disgusting jackass. he was loud.

[defacto7]

18. yes to this!

Romney bites!

I still don't get the "Obama had an off night" talk. He was great. The only time he dropped the ball was maybe the closing remarks. Outside of that he kicked Romney's ass like a statesman and let him dig his own hole.

Romney's demeanour was completely contrived, taught, coached and applied like a parrot. I haven't heard anyone comment yet about some of Romney's specific body language. The one thing that stands out to me was the patronizing "tilting of the head to the left" subliminal ploy. Whenever Obama talked about Michelle or his grandmother or something endearing in nature, Romney, with that fake smile tilted his head to the left. That is learned body language that basically is trumpeting to the audience that he (Romney) is so full of understanding, compassion and warmth... It's a ploy! It's a recently learned psychological projection. And he stunk at it too.

People should watch a rerun and just look for that head tilt. Once you see it, you can't miss the technique. It's like having a subliminal beer ad too dim to see in the background of a sports event. He's just trying to put one over on the public.

[ginnyinWI]

19. And didn't Reagan have that same head tilt thing?

He would do it all the time while speaking, just before answering. Maybe Romney was taking "Reagan lessons" too. Next he has to learn to say "Well..." in front of everything he says!

[broadcaster75201]

22. It's .... one ... debate

Am I missing something here? Obama had a BAD debate. There is no spinning it. We have Biden/Ryan next week and the other debates thereafter. It ... is ... one ... debate.

I understand the Right doing all it can to keep from losing the WH, Senate and House, but why on EARTH are we so worried? It's not even the last debate. C'mon. Women and Latinos are gonna suddenly say ... oh yeah, Romney's my guy?

Please. The race has tightened a little because GOPers are more excited. They are outnumbered and we are more motivated.

I shake my head that anyone is worried.

[bushisanidiot]

23. Which is exactly why he will win

.