Poll: Obama expands advantage over Romney
(CNN) - Three days after the Democratic convention wrapped up, President Barack Obama opened up his largest margin over Mitt Romney since early July in Gallup's daily tracking poll.
According to the poll released Sunday, Obama has 49% among registered voters nationwide, while Romney has 44%.
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The survey was conducted September 2-8, a time window that included the entirety of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina-as well as two days before and two days after the event.
During the party gathering, major leaders, including former President Bill Clinton, gave prime time speeches on why voters should elect Obama to a second term. The president himself capped off the week Thursday night with a final address.
"If you turn away now - if you buy into the cynicism that the change we fought for isn't possible, well, change will not happen," Obama said, depicting a scenario in which special interests and conservative politicians run Washington and the country. "... Only you can make sure that doesn't happen. Only you have the power to move us forward."
The same poll showed Obama with only a one-point margin (47%-46%) one week ago as he headed into the convention, which came a week after the Republican convention in Tampa, Florida.
Responding to the new numbers, Romney's pollster Neil Newhouse warned against getting "too worked up about the latest polling."
"While some voters will feel a bit of a sugar-high from the conventions, the basic structure of the race has not changed significantly. The reality of the Obama economy will reassert itself as the ultimate downfall of the Obama Presidency, and Mitt Romney will win this race," Newhouse said in a statement.
According to a CNN/ORC International Poll released Tuesday, Romney received a one point bounce after the GOP event, going from 47% to 48% compared to Obama's 49%.
The last time Obama held a five-point margin over Romney occurred on July 1, when the president had 48% and Romney had 43%.
While it's not unusual for a candidate to get a modest boost in the polls after a convention, a senior Obama campaign official said last week that big swings are becoming less common due to conventions now falling so late in the election year.
Speaking with CNN reporters in Charlotte, the official said candidates no longer get double-digit bounces, like the 16-point bump Clinton received after the 1992 convention in New York. Because of higher interest early on and long primary seasons, the "process is fundamentally different" now so that voters get exposed to the candidates much sooner and form their opinions before the conventions.
For the poll, Gallup surveyed approximately 3,050 registered voters by telephone. The sampling error is plus or minus two percentage points.
- CNN's Tom Cohen contributed to this report.
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I love it when republicans ask "Are you better off now then 4 years ago?" if you say no, then you want to go back to a country on the brink of a depression? The answer is if course not. So why would you even think you're worse off now then you were back then?
Obama so loved the poor, he created millions more.
No surprise here. We have a media that loved the DNC while mocking the RNC. Every time our media see a threat to Pres. Obama they attack them. Think Sarah Palin. Think Marco Rubio. Think Bobby Jindal. Think Clint Eastwood.
We not only got around a depression that could have been worse than the one in 1929 but some of us forget than even though the President had a Democratic congress in his first two years the fillibustering by the party of heck no went on for every bill that came their way. The teapublikkklans have also made a majority of 100 an unheard of 60 instead of 51.
They are back starting today. Must be nice to be able to take five weeks vacation when so many can't get any. The same people the rethugs are trying to keep from voting early in states like Ohio.
Romney the camellion flip flops again! Thanks Mittens for bring your true color into focus... at least until it changes again! Do ya think U might be able to find your tax returns while you're at it??? At the present rate of your campaign"s deterioration U should be irrelevant by Nov!!.
I hope the gap keeps increasing. WE cannot afford Romney, do we want another BUSH!!!? Obama has done good things lets give him 4 more years. It takes time people....
Romney is now running against the Republican Party. Maybe he should ask Biden to step aside, so he can join Obama as Vice-President.
i guess there are more people on government assistance than i thought, who don't want the gravy train to stop
How pitiful!
Yeah I m sure, he has a lead when pigs can fly thats when Obama will lead.
Not really surprising. What most forget is demographics favor Obama. More women generally vote than men; Obama will get the women's vote. He will also get the minority vote. He will also likely get white voters who are union.
The key demographics are who will win the younger voters and the middle class. Will recent unemployed college grads still believe in Obama? Will the middle class fear Romney's support of big business and money?
Romney's only clear advantage would be in the middle age white male demographic.
In my opinion, a small voter turnout would favor Romney, with disenfranchised young voters and apathetic middle class either abstaining or switching over to Romney.
Yeah...we'll see what happens after the debates...that's going to separate the candidates like nothing else. Obama's sleaze won't go over very well.
There was virtually NO chance that I would have voted for Romney from the outset. His flip/flopping on practically every issue showed him to be about winning MUCH more than about values. AND, where he SAYS he stands now goes against most of my core beliefs...
I said that to say that I watched both conventions, pretty carefully to see what else they might add to my knowledge and understanding.
The Republicans had some good speakers with faulty "facts" that they hopes would sway the unintelligent among us. I don't think they did.
Democrats had history on their side, better speakers (by a long shot) and MANY more ACTUAL facts.
Unless both Obama and Biden COMPLETELY blow the debates and/or get caught up in some magnificent scandal, their margins will almost certainly widen as election day approaches.
Obama gets an incomplete because he's still trying to clean up the mess left to him by the last Republican. Mitt gets an incomplete because he won't or can't tell us what he'd do about ANYTHING. Unless he's running with Ryan's plan, then it's obvious that what he wants to do is take us back to a bygone era – like the Industrial Revolution before all of those inconvenient labor regulations came into play. Whaadya mean no six year olds working in the coal mines? Sheesh!!
Sure people are disappointed in Obama, but he's a hell of lot better than Romney. People just don't trust Romney. He's a corporate sales guy who will say anything to get what he wants. At least you know what the President stands for. Romney is such a flip flopper. What Romney said in interviews this weekend. OMG. He is such a flip-flopper. I've never seen a politician change their positions and hedge their answers so much in my whole life!!!!!
The poll is of "registered voters." Poll "likely voters" and get back to me. Thanks.
For the sake of argument, Obama can blame Bush for causing it, but Obama can't blame Bush for why he can't fix the economy or get it better. Another smoke and mirror to deflect the real discussion.
That was what Bill Clinton was implying...... yeah, no President can fully fix the economy, but a President can make it better.... and Obama failed miserably, he made it worse; look at the numbers.....
Obama will sue you if the polling data makes him look bad. Just ask Gallup. Also, Carter was up 6 to 9 pts in the polls when Reagan won.
As somone who votes Democrat, I will say the same thing that I say when the Republicans are up in these polls – I will not be at peace until the election is over, no matter what they say. Also, this is amongst registered voters, not amongst likely voters. The amount of money that Mr. "Corporations are people, my friend" has to smear Obama is not to be underestimated.
Romney will continue to lose ground because he refuses to tell the American people exactly what he wants to do and how he will do it. It doesn't help him that after the RNC convention, his running mate is now known as LYIN RYAN. The only way Romney can win is if votes are suppressed and the republicans know it, hence the voter ID laws and limiting polling time attempts in Ohio and Florida. Here in Pennsylvania, we can only wonder what Governor Corbett and the boys will come up with to suppress votes. Rumors have ranged from them secretly keeping polls open longer in Republican dominated areas, but not in Democratic dominated ones to having their people challenge as many democratic voters at the polling places as they can thereby creating long lines and hoping the polls can close without everyone getting a chance to vote.