Poll Shows Obama’s Vulnerability With Swing Voters

"President Obama opens his re-election bid facing significant obstacles among independent voters, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll, with the critical piece of the electorate that cemented his victory four years ago open to denying him a second term.

As Mr. Obama moves toward a full-throated campaign, delivering a State of the Union address on Tuesday and inching closer to directly confronting his Republican challenger, a majority of independent voters have soured on his presidency, disapprove of how he has dealt with the economy and do not have a clear idea of what he hopes to accomplish if re-elected.

The swing voters who will play a pivotal role in determining his political fate are up for grabs, the poll found, with just 31 percent expressing a favorable opinion of Mr. Obama. Two-thirds of independent voters say he has not made real progress fixing the economy.

The president, mindful of the headwinds facing him, begins his first major television advertising campaign on Thursday in a handful of battleground states. His targets include independent voters, who the poll found also hold deep skepticism of Republicans.

While Republican primary voters say Mitt Romney stands the best chance of defeating Mr. Obama, nearly half of independents say they have yet to form an opinion of him, creating a considerable opening for Democrats to try to quickly define him if he becomes the nominee.

As Mr. Romney and his rivals fight to win the South Carolina primary on Saturday, the poll suggests that Republicans have grown less satisfied with their choices. Nearly 7 in 10 Republican voters across the country said they now want more options, a probable reflection of conservative unease about Mr. Romney and the remaining candidates.

A glimmer of hope may be on the horizon for Mr. Obama, though, as the economy appears to be generating more jobs. The poll found that 28 percent of the public says the economy is getting better, which is the biggest sense of optimism found in a Times/CBS News poll since last February.

When asked whom they trust, the poll found that Mr. Obama has an advantage over Congressional Republicans in making the right decisions about creating jobs, health care, Medicare and Social Security. Yet the gap narrows on the economy — the chief concern among voters — with 44 percent of Americans saying they trust Mr. Obama and 40 percent saying they trust Republicans in Congress.

The public is evenly split on whom they trust to deal with the budget deficit, which the poll found to be the public’s second most important issue.


“I’m not saying Obama hasn’t done anything good, and maybe it’s not fair to blame him or the administration, but I just think there were more expectations for an improvement on economic issues,” said Elaine Vignali, 60, a homemaker and independent voter from Uniontown, Pa. She added that she was deeply frustrated, declaring: “To be honest, if I had to vote today I wouldn’t vote.”'

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/19/us/politics/poll-shows-obamas-vulnerability-with-swing-voters.html?_r=1&ref=politics

Questions:
1. Do you think swing voters will be more apt to vote for Obama or for the Republican candidate?
2. In what ways can Obama and the Republican candidates win over swing voters, and will this cause the candidates to compromise some of their ideas and policies to win over voters?