(Rasmussen Reports) – The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday shows Mitt Romney attracting 49% of the vote, while President Obama earns support from 44%. Three percent (3%) prefer some other candidate, and four percent (4%) are undecided.
The numbers are similar to the 49% to 43% advantage Romney enjoys on the question of who is trusted more to handle the economy.
Seventy percent (70%) of voters see Obama as politically liberal, while 67% see Romney as a conservative. However, the president is seen as more extreme ideologically. Forty-three percent (43%) see him as Very Liberal, while just 24% believe Romney is Very Conservative. Most voters are either politically Moderate or Somewhat Conservative. Sixty-two percent (62%) place Romney in that group while just 25% say the same for Obama.
Matchup results are updated daily at 9:30 a.m. Eastern (sign up for free daily e-mail update).
Romney’s five-point advantage is the largest enjoyed by either candidate in just over a month. As with any such change in the race, it remains to be seen whether it marks a lasting shift or is merely statistical noise.
The president’s support has been at either 43% or 44% for six straight days. See tracking history.
In his weekly newspaper column, Scott Rasmussen notes that the declining economy is hurting the president’s reelection prospects. He points out that when President Bush was reelected in 2004 his summer job approval rating was similar to Obama’s. However, in 2004, the underlying trends were moving in his direction. “The big issue that year was the war on terror. In the summer of 2004, just 44 percent thought the United States and its allies were winning that war. In the five weeks running up to the election, however, confidence that our side was winning ranged from 49 percent to 52 percent.”
Rasmussen concludes that for Obama to win, “he will need to improve his own job approval rating between now and Election Day. For that to happen, perceptions of the economy will have to reverse their current downward trend.”
If you’d like Scott Rasmussen to speak to your organization, meeting, or conference, please contact Premiere Speakers.
Consumer confidence fell to a 2012 low yesterday. Today, the government reported slowing GDP growth. To address the nation’s economic challenges, 21% of Likely Voters favor an increase in government spending. Three times as many (64%) think the government should cut spending to spur economic growth.
A president’s Job Approval rating is one of the best indicators for assessing his chances of reelection. Typically, the president’s Job Approval rating on Election Day will be close to the share of the vote he receives. Currently, 47% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the president’s job performance. Fifty-three percent (53%) at least somewhat disapprove (see trends).
Forty-six percent (46%) believe Romney should release more of his tax returns, while 46% think he’s released enough. Not surprisingly, Democrats say he should release more; Republicans say he’s done enough, and unaffiliated voters are fairly evenly divided. Just 35% of all voters say the issue is even somewhat important in terms of how they will vote. Twenty-two percent (22%) say it is Very Important, a level of interest lower than found for all 10 issues tracked regularly by Rasmussen Reports.
