A new national poll from CNN shows President Obama leading likely Republican nominee former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney by 9 points, 52 percent to 43 percent. The president leads by a small 2 percent margin when pollsters asked registered voters which of the two candidates “Can get the economy moving,” and leads by 16 points when voters were asked which is the more “strong and decisive leader.”
Obama leas among independent voters by 5 points, and is the beneficiary of a large gender gap, besting Romney among women by 16 points. From CNN:
The poll was conducted two days after Democratic strategist and CNN contributor Hilary Rosen created a controversy by saying that Ann Romney “never worked a day in her life.”
“That remark may have little long-term effect on women voters,” says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. “By a two-to-one margin, the women surveyed saw President Obama as more in touch with the problems facing American women today.”
Half of those questioned say that Obama is more likely to stand up for what he believes, with only 29% saying that about Romney. Nearly half say that Romney is more likely to change his position on the issues for political reasons, just 39% saying the same thing about the president. Obama has double-digit leads over Romney on likeability, honesty, confidence, values, leadership and almost every other characteristic tested, with one important exception [the economy].
CNN’s numbers were released only a little more than an hour after Gallup’s first tracking poll of the race showed Romney with a 2-point lead nationally. The current TPM Poll Average of the contest shows a dead heat.
