Pew: Obama opens up big lead nationally

By Jonathan Easley - 09/19/12 02:42 PM ET

President Obama has a national lead of 8 percentage points over Mitt Romney, according to a Pew Research Center poll released Wednesday.

Obama leads Romney 51 to 43, according to the survey of likely voters. The poll could be an outlier — Obama only leads Romney by 3 percentage points in the Real Clear Politics average of national polls.

There is also an ongoing disparity between the daily tracking polls conducted by Gallup and Rasmussen, which show the race to be in a dead heat, and those conducted by the major news outlets.

Obama’s small bounce in the polls following the Democratic National Convention all but vanished from Tuesday’s Gallup daily tracking poll.

Obama takes 47 percent support among registered voters over Romney's 46 percent, according to Gallup.   The Rasmussen daily tracking poll shows Romney ahead by 2 percentage points. It is the only major poll out since the conventions to show Romney with the lead.

The Pew survey shows Obama with strong leads on a number of key metrics.

Sixty-eight percent of Obama’s supporters say they strongly support him, compared to 56 for Romney's supporters. In addition, 74 percent of those who support Obama say they are casting their ballot for him, rather than against Romney, compared to only 45 of Romney’s backers who say the same for their candidate.

Obama’s favorability continues to be one of his strongest assets, and is up from 50 percent in July to 55 in the latest poll, compared to 42 percent who say they have a negative view of him.

Romney was dogged by an historically low favorability rating throughout the Republican primaries. While he’s seen an increase in those who view him positively, he’s still underwater at 45 percent favorable and 50 percent unfavorable, Pew found.

The president also leads Romney on nearly every major issue, according to Pew. Obama has double-digit leads in the poll on foreign policy, the Middle East, healthcare, Medicare and abortion.

Romney staked the first half of his campaign assailing Obama over the weak economic recovery, and has pitched himself as the candidate better equipped to handle the economy going forward.

But Obama has a 46 to 45 percent advantage over Romney on improving the jobs situation.

The only issue in the Pew poll where Romney leads is on reducing the budget deficit, where he has a 46 to 43 percent advantage.

The poll of 3,019 adults includes 2,424 registered voters and has a 4 percentage point margin of error, and was conducted between Sept. 12 and Sept. 16.