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BY NATHAN BYRNE
ANCHOR LAUREN GORES
Polls show President Obama taking impressive leads in key battleground states. MSNBC has
the headline.
“A new Quinnipiac/CBS/New York Times poll has the president surpassing the 50 percent
mark, holding leads in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida.”
Mr. Obama’s biggest lead over presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney is in Pennsylvania
— where the poll shows them at 53 and 42 percent, respectively. Politico says Mr. Obama
has held that healthy lead in recent polling.
“Ohio and Florida, though, have been closer, so the six-point leads -- and the fact that
Obama breaks 50 percent -- in each of those states is significant.”
A writer for National Journal says the numbers seem to indicate these voters have their minds
made up.
“ … relatively few voters say they are undecided or might change their minds. Just
5 percent in each state said they would choose another candidate or were undecided, while
only around 10 percent of those who did choose either Obama or Romney said they might change
before the election.”
Not everyone sees the movement as permanent. A political writer for the National Review
says the poll doesn’t paint a complete picture of what’s to come on Election Day. He says
“If Obama surging to a better position among likely voters than among registered voters
seems odd to you… it’s because it is. … And if your instinct is to wonder if the
samples have unrealistic proportions of Democrats to Republicans, well… you’re probably
right.”
Conservative blog, Hot Air, says it’s a story of two polls — which are …
“ … entirely predictive if one believes that Democrats will outperform their turnout
models from the 2008 election in Florida and Ohio. That would require a huge boost in Democratic
enthusiasm and a sharp dropoff in Republican enthusiasm — which is exactly the opposite
that Gallup found last week.”
Despite Mr. Obama’s lead in the latest poll, The Hill says a plurality of voters in each
state think an Obama reelection could hurt their personal finances.
“Thirty-seven percent in Pennsylvania say an Obama second term would hit them in the
pocketbook, with 23 percent saying his policies would help. In both Ohio and Florida 38 percent
say Obama’s policies would negatively affect their finances, with 26 percent in Ohio and
23 percent in Florida saying they would help.”
Predictions aside, pollsters at Quinnipiac say history holds a special place for these
three battleground states.
“ … Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio — three hotly contested and critical states. Since
1960, no one has won the White House without winning at least two of those states.”