Obama losing luster with independent voters: poll

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks about the Defense Strategic Review at the Pentagon in Washington January 5, 2012. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks about the Defense Strategic Review at the Pentagon in Washington January 5, 2012.

Credit: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque

WASHINGTON | Thu Jan 19, 2012 12:38am EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Independent voters, who helped propel President Barack Obama to victory in the 2008 election, could be an obstacle in his bid for a second term in the White House, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll published on Wednesday.

A majority of independent voters have soured on Obama's presidency, disapprove of his handling of the economy and do not have a clear idea of what he hopes to accomplish if re-elected, the Times reported.

Only 31 percent of independent voters have a favorable opinion of the president and two-thirds say he has not made real progress in fixing the economy, the newspaper said.

In 2008, Obama won support from 52 percent of independent voters, compared with 44 percent who supported Republican presidential nominee John McCain.

Nearly half of independents say they have not formed an opinion of Mitt Romney, the front-runner in the Republican race for the nomination to challenge Obama in the November general election, the survey found.

Among all voters, 38 percent view Obama favorably, 45 percent unfavorably and 17 percent have no opinion, the survey showed. Voters were evenly divided in a matchup between Obama and Romney, but Obama fared better against other Republican candidates, the Times said

Looking at the Republican race, the poll suggests voters are not satisfied with the crop of candidates vying for the right to challenge Obama, the Times reported. Nearly 7 in 10 Republican voters said they want more choices.

The national telephone poll of 1,154, including 1,021 registered voters, was conducted January 12-January 17 and had a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.

(Reporting By JoAnne Allen; editing by Todd Eastham)
Politics
Barack Obama
Election 2012
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Comments (12)
ExRepublican2 wrote:
The news media is blind when towns and states give big businesses property tax breaks (a tax exemption) for 5 to 10 years just to acquire them. That is wrong and should be illegal. After these new companies establish themselves in those towns, they end up hiring very few locals’ vs. relocating their faithfully following employees to the new state’s town. It gets worst, after their tax exemption of five or ten years expires, they threaten to move away if the towns or states don’t extend their tax exemption. Tax breaks for big businesses needs to be outlaw by every State in the Union. This is the only way to break the ‘No Tax Cycle’ of big businesses, which are legally black mailing states and towns with their perfected method! Also, CEO s, managers and corporations frequently lay employees off to make their profits seem larger (using those salaries from their laid off employees to inflate or boost profits for their quarterly earnings statement) just to acquire an end of year bonus. The Insurance Companies started this yearly patterned unemployment cycle method of lay offs. And, whom do those company shareholders hire for CEO s? Former Ex-Bankers and we all know what they did to the 2008 US economy and presently conducting business in the same manner. This insidious cycle of unemployment won’t be broken until corrupt politicians are voted out of power and new laws banning tax exemptions and severe penalties (extremely high employer unemployment compensation levies) for unjustified patterned lay offs are passed into law. Conservative insanity continues to prevent the economy from recovering!

Jan 19, 2012 1:12am EST  --  Report as abuse
Marcus1000 wrote:
I don’t think so. We aren’t in near as deep as we were when Obama was voted in. It’s far easier to be critical when you haven’t gotten every single toy you wanted for Christmas. harder when just getting a toy is lookin like it wont come. The Republicans gave us the worst ressecion in our history through bad policy. They want power so they can do it again. Obama still looks good to me.

Jan 19, 2012 1:16am EST  --  Report as abuse
ExRepublican2 wrote:
And who pays for Teachers, Fire and Police services? The Home owner (the working class citizen) and their taxes are higher because Big Business and Corporations get 5 and ten year property tax exemptions!!! ALL the States in the Union have to BAN Tax Exemptions for Big Businesses. Is everyone blind or greedy to screw their neighboring state? Wake up America or your property tax rates will take your retirement too.

Jan 19, 2012 1:18am EST  --  Report as abuse
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