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By basically every criteria imaginable the American people just seem to think President Obama is a better person than Mitt Romney. Not only has polling found that Obama is significantly more likeable than Romney, but also people think Obama is more honest, caring and a stronger leader. From Gallup:
Romney’s numbers on honesty and trustworthiness are already bad and I suspect they will only get worse as the media has been basically forced to acknowledge how dishonest much of the Romney campaign is. The incredible number of lies and falsehoods in Paul Ryan VP acceptance speech last night seems to have been a tipping point where it has gotten too bad to ignore. Ryan’s almost shocking level of dishonesty last night is getting highlighted not only in traditional fact checking and left leaning sites, but also in multiple mainstream newspaper and online articles.
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How about — Believes in the rule of law?
It’s not convenient to ask that one.
Boiling down the little quip he made yesterday about his health care plan (“At least I do care. Romney DOESN’T care.”) I was half-tempted to make a bumper sticker that said: AT LEAST OBAMBACARE A LITTLE, or (alternatively) AT LEAST OBAMAPRETENDACARE.
Republicans vote for Republican candidates, and they won’t vote for Obama no matter how likeable he is. Democrats are the same way. The only thing that matters on election day is whether or not more Democrats or Republicans are motivated to make the trip to the booth. Considering the number of Democrats who are pissed off with Obama, he has a problem. Small percents can cause big problems.
All Romney has to do is get within 10%. Diebold will take care of the rest.
I’ll acknowledge that Obama hasn’t lived up to everything he promised but It doesn’t mean I won’t show up to vote for him. The alternative to Obama is Mitt Romney and we can’t have a LIAR and a CHEAT and a TAX EVADER and a DRAFT DODGER and an OUTSOUCER in the whitehouse. Not only am I voting for Obama, but I’m spending 8 hours a week volunteering for his campaign.
A pity he does not have a clear performance advantage, for example:
Rule of Law
Single Payer
Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Program
Ending the Bush Tax cuts.
Vote for me I’m a nice guy.
Take that to the drone victims.
If all true then Obama has a clear path to turn this around.
Not only that Romney could seriously undermine our social safety net and then some.
Here’s the thing about those questions: on the last three, I would rate Obama, and Bush, high, but not in any good way. Those questions need qualifiers, which poll surveys never do. Obama gets, Bush got, what he wants and he’s very effective. On behalf of is the problem. I do see both of them as hopelessly out of their depths, but that doesn’t/didn’t make either of them ineffective. Which implies there are tragically few people in policy making positions who have any realistic grasp, at all. They’re almost all in the business of creating their own realities.
Why anyone would not give either of these two candidates a resounding NO to the questions is beyond me.
Wow. Americans can be terrible judges of character, no? Perhaps the wording of the questions should be changed to:
1) “Is likable to those for whom he does favors.”
2) “Cares about the needs of people like you… who is a rich, profligate white-collar criminal with twelve 16,000 square-foot McMansions in places like the Hamptons, Aspen, Grand Cayman and a secret sub base in Antarctica.”
3) “Is honest and trustworthy, if by honest you mean, ‘Will tell me the truth in private, but lies all the time in public.’”
4) “Would stand up to special interests, which simply means organized labor, environmentalists, human rights orgs and so on. Everybody knows corporations are not special interests.”
5) “Is a strong and decisive leader, when it’s politically expedient. Also enjoys killing people with a joystick just for shits and giggles.”
6) “Would work well with both parties, as long as the parties aren’t on the same night. He’s old enough that party hopping isn’t such a grand idea, as much as he’d like to do that. Except on Coronation Night, of course, as one cannot resist the temptation to gloat in front of lobbyists all night.”
7) “Can manage government effectively, by privatizing it so he doesn’t have to put up with all that stupid paperwork and ‘reports.’”
If worded that way, I’m sure he’d post better numbers, right?
Remember people it’s the skaywe repwublikans. Be afwaid…be very afwaid.
It’s a little like saying Obama has the edge on Satan.
I think this likeability thing is getting overblown.
Picture yourself with two or three kids at home or hoping to go to college and you’ve been out of work for a year or two. And maybe you are now 50 years old.
Then tell me the election will depend on whether Mitt shared that George Romney put a rose on his wife’s night stand every morning or that Obama has a nice smile.
Seriously, what planet do politicians and pundits live on? Or is it that the collar buttons on those custom made shirts don’t leave them enough room to get oxygen to their brains?
This election will turn on who people think has a better shot at fixing the economy.
If they think that Romney may succeed where Obama failed, Romney will win, even if they can never have coffee or tea with him, let alone a beer. If they are willing to give Obama a little longer because they buy that no one could have done better, given where Bush left him, Obama will win.
They’ve seen Obama’s performance; Romney is a wild card. It’s a Hobson’s choice, which is about all the American people ever think they have at the polls.
So could Democrats. The difference would be the rhetoric and other window dressing.