[QUOTE]It's the state where Mitt Romney was born and where his father served as governor, but a new poll indicates President Barack Obama is leading the Republican nominee in the race for Michigan's 16 electoral votes.According to a [URL="http://www.cnn.com/POLITICS/pollingcenter/polls/3092"]CNN/ORC International survey[/URL] ([URL="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2012/images/09/19/topgenstate3mi.pdf"]PDF[/URL]) released Wednesday, 52% of likely voters in Michigan say if the presidential election were held today, they'd vote for the president, with 44% saying they'd cast a ballot for Romney. The poll is the second in a week to indicate Obama with a lead. The president was up 47%-37% over Romney in an EPIC/MRA poll released last week. But polls conducted earlier this summer indicated a closer contest.
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The auto bailouts of General Motors and Chrysler may be a factor behind the new numbers in the state that's home to the domestic auto industry. They were prominently showcased during all three nights of the Democratic convention earlier this month, as was Romney's opposition to Washington's role.
The federal government's assistance of auto giants was started under President George W. Bush in 2008, but the next year Obama grabbed the keys to the program, managing and funding the bailouts of GM and Chrysler. Romney opposed the government bailout and pushed for a privately financed, managed bankruptcy of the two automakers.
According to the CNN poll, Obama piles up sizeable margins among his core groups, including women, union households, urban and younger voters, and those with lower incomes. But he also holds his own among men, higher-income Michiganders, and non-union households. He manages a 46%-46% tie among independent voters, and has a narrow deficit in the suburbs.
"One key to President Obama's strength may be the 51%-46% advantage he currently has among Michigan men," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "It has been suggested that the auto bailout is particularly popular among men in 'car cultures' like Michigan even if they do not directly make their living from the auto industry."
Romney was born in Detroit and raised in nearby Oakland County, but he loses both of those regions to Obama, according to the survey. Romney does best in the southwestern part of the state, including the Grand Rapids area, where he has a 19-point lead over Obama.
George H.W. Bush's 1988 victory in Michigan was the last time a Republican carried the state in a presidential contest. Obama won the state by 57%-41% over Sen. John McCain four years ago. The state is currently "lean Obama" in CNN's Electoral Map.
This cycle, since the unofficial start of the general election in early April, neither presidential campaign has spent money to run ads on broadcast TV in the state. SuperPACs and other independent advocacy groups backing Romney have spent over $6 million to run ads in Michigan, but that pales in comparison to other competitive states like Florida, Ohio and Virginia.
Wednesday Restore Our Future, a pro-Romney super PAC, announced that it was going to spend $2.2 million to run ads in Michigan and Wisconsin.
Obama has not visited Michigan since April. Romney and Ryan were last in the state in late August, just before the start of the Republican convention.
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"This was one of Governor Romney's top targets as he tried to expand his map - create more options to get to 270 – by putting the president on defense in some of the bigger blue states from 2008. They insist they haven't given up on Michigan, but the campaign isn't spending any TV money here, which speaks volumes," says CNN Chief National Correspondent John King. "Republicans had a great 2010 in Michigan, but when you talk to party leaders now, they are less and less optimistic that Romney can win here – and less and less certain he will even make a late push."
As for the "Restore Our Future" ad buy, King says it "looks like one last effort to budge the numbers now that the conventions dust has settled."
Also influencing the numbers in Michigan is the state of the economy. Michael Traugott, a professor of communications and political science at the University of Michigan, says one factor here is that while Michigan is hardly booming, things are a bit better than a few years ago.
"The economy is on an upward slope even though the magnitude of the slope is very small," Traugott told CNN. "Barack Obama also has a reservoir of popular support or sentiment about him personally, and views about how he cares for other Americans, that he can take advantage of and it's difficult for Romney to argue against."
According to the new poll, Green party nominee Jill Stein and U.S. Taxpayers party candidate Virgil Goode each at one percent among likely voters, with Natural Law party candidate Ross C. Anderson registered at less than one-half of one percent.
The survey was conducted mostly before Monday afternoon's release of secretly recorded remarks that Romney made at a private fund-raiser in May, where he described supporters of President Barack Obama as dependent on government. Fallout from the controversial clips has dominated coverage of the race for the White House over the past two days.
"As always, keep in mind that today's poll is not, and cannot be, a prediction of what will happen in November. One in eight likely voters say they could change their minds between now and Election Day, and with three key debates on the calendar, it's far too early to predict the final outcome in Michigan or any other state," adds Holland.
The CNN poll was conducted by ORC International from September 14-18, with 1,023 adults in Michigan, including 910 registered voters and 754 likely voters, questioned by telephone. The survey's sampling error for registered and likely voters is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.[/QUOTE]
[URL]http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/09/19/cnn-poll-romney-trailing-in-birth-state/?hpt=po_c1[/URL]
Well no shit. If you say that you'd close down the major economic centers of the state, people living there won't like you.
Michigan, now thats interesting.
But Massachusetts voted for Obama last election.
I am from Massachusetts and I can confirm that no one here likes Romney.
[QUOTE=VOSK;37727773]I am from Massachusetts and I can confirm that no one here likes Romney.[/QUOTE]
This is about Michigan?
[QUOTE=patq911;37727816]This is about Michigan?[/QUOTE]
And not a lot of people here like him, just like the article says.
[QUOTE=VOSK;37727773]I am from Massachusetts and I can confirm that no one here likes Romney.[/QUOTE]
My mom likes Romney. :v:
It's not surprising considering we're mainly socially liberal, so we align with Democrats more. Although our economy is better than most, so we must see something in Obama.
Romney's been making some astonishingly bad decisions lately.
My mom
"He is a millionaire so he is therefor the best choice for president..."
ugh
[QUOTE=MadPro119;37728396]My mom
"He is a millionaire so he is therefor the best choice for president..."
ugh[/QUOTE]
Both of my parents unquestionably vote Republican and assure me that it's the best course of action.
Me 'pop told me stories about how he was a pilot while Kennedy and Carter were in office, and how their policies would only serve to hurt people, especially when they did their sweeping military reforms. So I think that influenced his decision mainly.
It's that way with alot veterans who were alive while Kennedy and Carter were in office.
[QUOTE=MadPro119;37728396]My mom
"He is a millionaire so he is therefor the best choice for president..."
ugh[/QUOTE]Luckily my parents think the complete opposite, they think it's a terrible idea for someone like Romney to be president.
[url=http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/]538[/url] says right now Romney has a 5.3% chance of winning Michigan and a .3% chance of winning Massachusetts, youch.
Funny thing about Romney is that he was born with a father being an owner of a big industry, Romney even supported the Vietnam War and he drew a high draft number which made him exempt from joining the Army.
Here in mid-NJ, at my school, literally [i]everyone[/i] hates Obama for no reason whatsoever. I try explaining it, and they just say "NO OBAMA RUINED THE ECONOMY"
i ask how
"HE'S TRYING TO TAKE AWAY OUR MEDICARE"
what does that even have to do with what
who even knew romney was from Michigan? Kind of hard to get the home-state support when nobody knows.
I thought he was from Utah tbh.
[editline]19th September 2012[/editline]
I think most people would consider Massachusetts to be his home state anyway since he was governor there, just like most people associate Obama with Illinois even though he was born in Hawaii. The only reason the Hawaii thing matters is because of the birther thing.
Winning Michigan would pretty much seal Obama's victory.
[QUOTE=patq911;37727816]This is about Michigan?[/QUOTE]
Romney was the Governor of my State.
Here in the Netherlands everyone likes Obama because he is the one with the hope face.
I tried shouting and cussing at my friends for not getting involved in the elections and how I nearly died fighting for their right to vote, but all I get is kicked out of Skype and Vietnam flashbacks.
He'll bounce back, trust me on this. No backstabbing state full of liberals is going to stop the Romney Train.
[QUOTE=Mister Royzo;37729432]Here in the Netherlands everyone likes Obama because he is the one with the hope face.
I tried shouting and cussing at my friends for not getting involved in the elections and how I nearly died fighting for their right to vote, but all I get is kicked out of Skype and Vietnam flashbacks.[/QUOTE]
Were you tasked with spooking the congs out of their fox holes?
[QUOTE=Mister Royzo;37729432]Here in the Netherlands everyone likes Obama because he is the one with the hope face.
I tried shouting and cussing at my friends for not getting involved in the elections and how I nearly died fighting for their right to vote, but all I get is kicked out of Skype and Vietnam flashbacks.[/QUOTE]
wait what
Maybe it's time for Mittens to drop out of the race.
Now all we need to worry about is the senators.
[editline]20th September 2012[/editline]
and reps
[QUOTE=The Worm;37730543]Now all we need to worry about is the senators.
[editline]20th September 2012[/editline]
and reps[/QUOTE]
And Romney.
Can't let your guard down until after the elections.
[QUOTE=Flicky;37729071]Here in mid-NJ, at my school, literally [i]everyone[/i] hates Obama for no reason whatsoever. I try explaining it, and they just say "NO OBAMA RUINED THE ECONOMY"
i ask how
"HE'S TRYING TO TAKE AWAY OUR MEDICARE"
what does that even have to do with what[/QUOTE]
Well most people have their political ideologies influenced by their parents, my guess is that they don't understand that Bush took a shit on our economy. Obama has a lot to fix, but its not gonna take 4 years, anyone who thinks you can stabilize an economy in 4 years should probably lock themselves in a closet.
[QUOTE=MadPro119;37728396]My mom
"He is a millionaire so he is therefor the best choice for president..."
ugh[/QUOTE]
They both are.
My parents are normally Republican voting and we got something in the mail asking for donations to Romney's campaign.
I told my dad and he just laughed and said "Nope."
I'm not sure if that means they don't like him or they're just greedy...
[QUOTE=Archonos 2;37731282]My parents are normally Republican voting and we got something in the mail asking for donations to Romney's campaign.
I told my dad and he just laughed and said "Nope."
I'm not sure if that means they don't like him or they're just greedy...[/QUOTE]
Like Romney does not have enough money already.
I'm from California, and no one here likes Nixon.
[QUOTE=Mister Royzo;37729432]Here in the Netherlands everyone likes Obama because he is the one with the hope face.
I tried shouting and cussing at my friends for not getting involved in the elections and how I nearly died fighting for their right to vote, but all I get is kicked out of Skype and Vietnam flashbacks.[/QUOTE]
Voter apathy in America is unlike anything I've heard of. Nobody cares about anything that doesn't have an immediate impact on their life. They'll squawk and draw boundary lines over religious doctrine, but rarely do I ever hear a discussion or argument about law.
I'd go into politics if I could stand dealing with it. In all likelihood I intend to emigrate eventually.
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