Poll: Obama Pulls Ahead Of Romney By 7 Points
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – President Barack Obama is facing stats that historically would favor a challenger over an incumbent. But poll after poll, including Wednesday's Reuters/Ipsos poll is finding that despite misgivings over the direction of the country; Obama is still leading his Republican challenger Mitt Romney.
According to the Reuters/Ipsos poll, 64 percent said the United States is currently headed in the wrong direction, with just 31 percent saying the country is on the right track. That's followed a similar trend dating back to roughly December 2009.
Breaking the numbers down further, the poll found the economy was the number one problem facing the country with other domestic issues coming in second. Foreign affairs was a distant third, which will be a first in recent presidential elections.
Overall, the poll found that 49 percent approved of President Obama's job performance, while 48 percent disapproved, making it a statistical tie. In addition, the country is evenly divided over who it wants to control Congress with 46 percent choosing Democrats and 46 percent choosing Republicans.
Still, despite all of those numbers, Obama currently leads Romney by a 49-42 percent margin in the race for the White House. It's a one percent increase from a survey last month and six percent better than the same poll conducted in June.
Since May of last year, Obama has averaged around a 5.7 percent lead over Romney, which is outside the poll's margin of error.
Looking at specific issues, voters preferred Obama to Romney on health care issues by a 53-36 percent majority. Voters were statistically split on jobs and the economy with Obama receiving 46 percent support and Romney getting 44 percent support.
When it came to taxes, Obama led in the poll by 11 points over Romney suggesting that voters are leaning towards Obama's message about raising taxes on the wealthy to protect the middle class. Obama's weakest numbers were on immigration, where voters were split 42 percent for the president and 41 percent for Romney.
Obama dominated Romney in ranking on the war on terror, besting Romney by 15 percent 50-35. Obama also performed better on foreign policy, national security, and family values, which he beat Romney by 8 percent.
