A new Reuters/Ipsos poll shows President Obama expands lead over Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney to six percentage points, at 49% to 43%, as voters became slightly more optimistic about the economy. The polls found that the number of Americans who thought the country was on the wrong track dropped five percentage points to 58%. President Obama’s approval rating inched up one point to 48%, while the number of Americans who disapprove of his job performance fell three percentage points to 47%, Reuters reports.

I don’t put much stock in these early polls but the Obama campaign must be pleased that he seems to be weathering the “storm” on the economy, despite the weak June jobs report. Campaign donations continue to lag behind the Romney campaign.

The Obama campaign dinged Mitt Romney a few times, particularly on the issue of his offshore bank accounts and his failure to release tax returns for more than one year. They have also made significant headway in raising the “trust issue” over Romney being less than forthcoming about those two issues, plus his stint at Bain Capital where people actually lost jobs.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll, which comprised of 1,154 adults, including 885 registered voters, was taken between Thursday and Monday, the same week the Bureau of Labor Statistics report was released showing the unemployment rate holding at 8.2% with the unemployment rate in the black community inching up to 14.4%. Mitt Romney was booed during his speech at the 103rd NAACP Convention in Houston, when he talked about repealing Obamacare. I seriously doubt he will make much inroads with black voters in the general election.

This was cross-posted from The Hinterland Gazette