US President Barack Obama expanded his lead over presumptive Republican challenger and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney to 6 percentage points in the White House race this month, as voters became slightly more optimistic about the economy, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed on Tuesday.
Four months before the Nov. 6 election, Obama leads Romney among registered voters 49 percent to 43 percent. Last month, Obama held a slim 1 percentage point lead over Romney.
Obama’s improved standing was fueled in part by a slight rise in optimism about the future, with the number of Americans who think the country is on the wrong track dropping 5 percentage points to 58 percent.
Obama’s approval ratings ticked up 1 point to 48 percent and the number of Americans who disapprove of his job performance dropped 3 percentage points to 47 percent.
The shift follows a low point for Obama last month as economic worries deepened and Romney consolidated Republican support after clinching the party’s nomination to challenge him in November. Obama had led Romney by 7 points in May’s poll.
“Last month was a particularly bad time for Obama, but the race now seems to have returned to its normal position, which has Obama up a few points,” pollster Chris Jackson said.
The poll of 1,154 adults, including 885 registered voters, was taken between Thursday last week and Monday. During that period, a weak labor report was issued on Friday that showed sluggish job gains and an unchanged unemployment rate of 8.2 percent last month.
It also followed a long anticipated US Supreme Court decision late last month upholding Obama’s landmark healthcare overhaul. At the same time, gas prices have dropped as the summer driving season gains steam and concerns about the European debt crisis have eased slightly.
“It’s not like consumer confidence has turned a big corner, but people feel a little better about where they are and where they are going,” Jackson said. “Nothing bad has happened recently and when nothing really bad happens people start feeling more optimistic.”
Other national polls have shown a tight White House race, with Obama generally holding a slight lead over Romney. A Washington Post/ABC News poll on Tuesday had the two rivals running neck-and-neck.
Romney, a former head of a private equity firm, has attacked Obama’s leadership of the sluggish economy, which voters consistently rate as the top issue in the election.
The poll found 45 percent of Americans think Obama’s performance on jobs and the economy has been unsatisfactory and only 35 percent think it has been satisfactory. That is Obama’s lowest mark since December last year.
Obama was rated more positively on every other issue, including healthcare, where he earned positive ratings from 44 percent of Americans and unsatisfactory marks from 41 percent.
Opinions on the healthcare law were split relatively evenly, with 45 percent in favor and 48 percent opposed. The number who opposed the law was up slightly from last month, when 44 percent were against it.
Obama’s campaign and his Democratic allies have hammered Romney as too wealthy and out of touch to relate to the everyday concerns of the middle class. Obama underlined that point on Monday by calling for a one-year extension of the tax cuts introduced by former US president George W. Bush, but only for families earning less than US$250,000 a year.
Jackson said Obama had gained some traction with the argument and with Democratic attacks accusing Romney’s private equity firm Bain Capital of plundering companies and eliminating jobs.
“Obama and Democrats at large have found an effective hammer to use against Romney with the Bain Capital attacks,” Jackson said. “People think of Romney as being rich and elite and don’t see him favorably in that light.”
The Reuters/Ipsos survey, conducted over landlines and cellphones, had a margin of error of 3 percent for all adults and 3.4 percent for registered voters.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese