Politics
Election 2012: Obama extends lead over Romney to 7 points
(Reuters) – President Barack Obama extended his lead over Republican challenger Mitt Romney to 7 percentage points because of increased support from independent voters and some optimism over the economy, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed on Tuesday.
With six months to go before Election Day on November 6, Obama was backed by 49 percent of registered voters in the telephone poll, compared to 42 percent who supported Romney. In April, the poll showed Obama leading Romney 47 percent to 43 percent.
The numbers suggest Romney’s general election campaign has not yet taken off, although he has effectively clinched the Republican nomination in recent weeks when Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich dropped out of the race.
Obama’s overall approval rating among the 1,131 adults surveyed was 50 percent, up 1 point from last month as the anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden gave Obama a chance to tout his national security credentials and stage a high-profile visit to Afghanistan.
Forty-seven percent of people in the poll disapproved of how Obama handles his presidency.
“The economy continues to chug along. Presidential ratings are correlated fairly closely with economic optimism and when the public sees things like unemployment going down and other signs of economic recovery, they are more inclined towards voting for the status quo – which in this case is to keep the incumbent in office,” said Ipsos pollster Julia Clark.
The U.S. jobless rate fell to 8.1 percent in April, the lowest since Obama took office in January 2009, although employers cut back on hiring as the economy struggles to pick up growth.
