“… Who made that long case for ‘look, it may not feel good yet, but this is the right path’? Who is making that argument moreso than the President? It’s Bill Clinton. It’s hard not to look at this as the Bill Clinton bump.” – Chuck Todd [on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports]
WASHINGTON – On Andrea Mitchell Reports on Thursday, Chuck Todd teased some new numbers from a NBC/WSJ poll, which reveals the presidential race as it stands today is not just advantage Obama, but puts Pres. Obama leading Mitt Romney, who is now clearly behind in critical areas.
A tweet of one of the numbers:
.@chucktodd breaks out 2 new NBC-WSJ poll numbers on #mitchellreports today: 47% think Obama better prepared for next 4 yrs 36% Romney
— Andrea Mitchell (@mitchellreports) September 18, 2012
Obama leading by 11 points on the standard of preparedness comes into stark clarity after the last 48 hours.
On the “are you better off” question, it’s now 38% say they are, compared to 31% who thought so before the Democratic National Convention.
Todd also noted there was a shift showing “big movement among independents” in the post convention polling. As for “is the cement drying?,” as Todd put it, no one should proclaim that, but it is one of those moment we’ll point to as significant if Romney ends up losing in November.
As bad as the last 3 weeks has been for Romney, then adding the new polling above, I’d say Mitt Romney is now the underdog. Historically, Americans roots for this guy, however, there’s no evidence anyone is rooting for Mitt Romney, starting on the Republican side. So Romney’s October 3 debate has to be something besides sound bites; he needs to do damage.
Taylor Marsh, a veteran political analyst and former Huffington Post contributor, is the author of The Hillary Effect, available at Barnes and Noble and on Amazon. Her new-media blog www.taylormarsh.com covers national politics, women and power.