I hope this holds.... The Dems October surprise was fudging the Unemployment numbers... .so I assumed these two woulda sorta balance eachother out.
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Saturday shows Mitt Romney attracting support from 49% of voters nationwide, while President Obama earns the vote from 47%. Two percent (2%) prefer some other candidate, and two percent (2%) are undecided.
These results are based upon nightly interviews and reported on a three-day rolling average basis. As a result, only about two-thirds of the interviews for today’s update were conducted after the presidential debate. Sunday morning’s update will be the first national polling based entirely upon post-debate interviews.
Still, the numbers reflect quite a debate bounce for Romney. Heading into Wednesday’s showdown, it was the president who enjoyed a two-point advantage. Today is the first time Romney has been ahead by even a single point since mid-September. See daily tracking history. As with all bounces, it remains to be seen whether it is a temporary blip or signals a lasting change in the race.
Both men have solidified their partisan base. Romney is supported by 89% of Republicans and Obama by 88% of Democrats. Among those not affiliated with either major party, Romney leads by 16.
The generation gap remains wide. Obama leads by double digits among those under 40. Romney leads by double digits among those over 40.
Matchup results are updated daily at 9:30 a.m. Eastern (sign up for free daily e-mail update).
Post-debate state polls show Romney up one in Virginia, the president up one in Ohio and Romney up two in Florida. All three remain Toss-Ups in the Rasmussen Reports Electoral College Projections. Check out our review of last week’s key polls to see “What They Told Us.”
Some in Washington believe that Americans would be less cynical about government if they actually saw how things worked in the nation’s capital. However, Neil Barofsky believes the opposite is true and that things are even worse than imagined. Barofsky is in a unique position to make that assessment having served as the Special Inspector General for the TARP bailouts. He joins Scott Rasmussen on this weekend’s edition of What America Thinks and contends that both the Bush and Obama administrations were more interested in bailing out Wall Street than in helping Main Street. See some of what Barofsky had to say here.
The show this week also features William McGurn from the Wall Street Journal and Dan Gerstein from Gotham Ghostwriters analyzing the state of the presidential race following Wednesday night’s debate. Both men have served as presidential speechwriters. They also take some time to look at why Democrats are now favored to retain control of the U.S. Senate.
What America Thinks airs each weekend on over 60 stations nationwide. It can be found on WLNY in New York at 10:30 on Sunday morning and on KCBS in Los Angeles at 4:30 Saturday afternoon. In Phoenix, it’s on CBS5 at 5 pm on Sunday. See the list of stations here.
Scott Rasmussen’s weekly newspaper column noted that “incumbent presidents often struggle in the first debate and do better in the second. Ronald Reagan may be the greatest example of this. After a very poor performance in the first debate of 1984, many wondered whether Reagan's age had caught up with him. Walter Mondale and his team thought they had a chance. But the veteran performer turned it all around at the beginning of the second debate by pledging not to make his 'opponent's youth and inexperience an issue' in the campaign. Even Mondale laughed, although he had to know his chances of winning the election disappeared at that moment.”
Rasmussen wonders, “Does Obama have a comeback like that in him? We’ll find out on Oct. 16.”
If you’d like Scott Rasmussen to speak to your organization, meeting or conference, please contact Premiere Speakers.
(Presidential Job Approval Data Below)