Romney's bounce from convention looks short-lived: Reuters/Ipsos poll

A modest bump in popularity for U.S. presidential hopeful Mitt Romney from this week's Republican Party convention looks to be short-lived, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.

Democratic President Barack Obama regained a narrow lead on Saturday by 44 percent to 43 percent over his Republican challenger, former Massachusetts Governor Romney, in the latest daily installment of the four-day rolling poll.

Romney was ahead by one point in Friday's online poll and two points in Thursday's survey as his campaign came under a blaze of media attention at the convention in Tampa, Florida.

In his acceptance speech on Thursday, Romney urged voters to get behind him and help rebuild the economy. His address followed three days of speeches by Republicans, including testimonies from Romney's relatives and friends aimed at improving the image of a candidate who is often seen as stiff or aloof.

"This wasn't a lightning bolt convention," Ipsos pollster Julia Clark said. "Comparatively speaking, this was a more muted convention in general ... So it doesn't surprise me that (the bump in polls) wasn't a great deal bigger."

Post-convention poll bounces are common and typically short-lived, and Obama could see one himself next week after he formally accepts his party's nomination for a second term at the Democratic convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.

But with the candidates treading water in a dead-heat race, Clark said she expected polls to remain extremely close all the way to the November 6 vote.

Romney's muted benefit from the convention may be in part because of his decision to unveil his vice-presidential pick, Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan, weeks before the convention.

The convention was also overshadowed by Hurricane Isaac, which caused the cancellation of Monday's events, as well as a bizarre performance right before Romney's speech of Hollywood star Clint Eastwood, who addressed an imaginary Obama in an empty chair.

The Reuters/Ipsos rolling poll measures sentiment during the two-week convention season by polling over the previous four days.

The survey released on Saturday found that of registered voters who have seen, heard or read at least something about the convention, 39 percent thought it was excellent or good, with nearly as many saying it was average.

Among Republicans, 65 percent said the convention went well and 31 percent rated it average.

On Friday, the poll found Romney improving his standing with voters on various favorable characteristics, such as being "a good person" or "tough enough for the job."

Those gains largely ebbed on Saturday, but Romney continued to rise in the key category of likeability. Thirty-two percent of those surveyed found him likeable, a one-point gain from Friday. Obama's likeability lost one point to 47 percent.

The two candidates also emerged neck-in-neck in the question of who "has the right values," with Romney at 38 percent and Obama at 39 percent. On Monday, Obama led in this category by nine points with 43 percent.

For the survey, a sample of 1,505 of American registered voters was interviewed online. The precision of the Reuters/Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll has a credibility interval of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.

Congressman Akin resists pressure to quit race

 Republican Representative Todd Akin resisted pressure to quit the Senate race in Missouri on Tuesday, releasing a new ad apologizing for his inflammatory remarks about rape that have reinserted controversial abortion politics into the presidential campaign.
In an ad released online, Akin again apologized for his comments Sunday, when he claimed in a television interview that women could not get pregnant from "legitimate rape," even as senior Republicans condemned his remarks and called for him to step aside in the race.
"Rape is an evil act. I used the wrong words in the wrong way, and for that I apologize," Akin said in the spot.
"The fact is, rape can lead to pregnancy. The truth is, rape has many victims. The mistake I made was in the words I said, not in the heart I hold. I ask for your forgiveness," he added. Akin, noting that he is the father of two daughters, also said he wanted "tough justice" for rapists and expressed compassion for victims.
The Republican challenger is running against Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill in the November 6 election. Tuesday is the last day for candidates to file in the Missouri race, giving Republicans until later in the day to submit a replacement, if Akin decides to drop out.
His comments have become a distraction ahead of the Republican convention next week to nominate Mitt Romney for U.S. president.
His comments have put the focus on social issues rather than Romney's main message of the economy and jobs. They also complicated Republican efforts to win the majority in the 100-member Senate.
But a poll late Monday night showed little effect from the controversy on the closely contested Missouri race.
Findings from Public Policy Polling showed Akin ahead of McCaskill 44 percent to 43 percent, even though the majority of Missouri voters said his rape comments were inappropriate. Before the controversy, the polling firm found Akin ahead 45 percent to 44 percent.
On Sunday, Akin told KTVI television in St. Louis that the need for abortions in the case of rape was a tough question and that as far as pregnancy is concerned, "if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down."
Romney on Monday denounced Akin's remarks as "insulting, inexcusable, and, frankly wrong," and top Republicans have called on Akin to withdraw from the race and cut off advertising.
President Barack Obama and other Democrats also called Akin's remarks offensive.

Reuters

(Reporting By Susan Heavey; Editing by Stacey Joyce)

The immediate reaction of Republicans, about rape

After the buzz created by statements  of Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin,  Republicans responded by creating an internet site on the rape. The website details the actions republican policies for victims of rape. Besides stories of women reported, and ways, of which a woman can find nursing, described.
 

The website is:

http://www.republicansforrape.org/

One of the stories reported is:

Ryan is the Romney' s failed pick

by Jeffrey M. Jones

Mitt Romney's standing in the presidential election campaign has not changed materially in the immediate days after his announcement of Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan as his vice-presidential running mate. 

The first four days of Gallup Daily tracking after Romney's announcement show 47% of registered voters saying they would vote for Romney and 45% for Barack Obama if the election were held today. The four days prior showed Romney at 46% and Obama at 45%.

While the initial indication is no increase in Romney's support after naming Ryan, the data suggest the possibility that Romney may get a delayed bounce, as he fared slightly better in Aug. 13-14 Gallup tracking than in Aug. 11-12 tracking.
The lack of an immediate increase for Romney is consistent with Sunday's USA Today/Gallup poll that found a generally tepid reaction to the Ryan pick, especially in comparison to past vice-presidential choices.

Like this year, Gallup also did not find any significant change in voter preferences for the 2008 election after Obama and John McCain each named his running mate. However, in the 1996-2004 campaigns, the vice presidential choice seemed to have a more noticeable impact on voters.

Gallup cannot accurately assess the effect of vice presidential announcements on voter preferences prior to 1996, given the timing of polls and other campaign events in those years. Specifically, in many earlier elections, the vice presidential choice was made during the party's nominating convention, so it is not possible to isolate any change in voter preferences due to the vice presidential choice from changes associated with the party's conventions, which usually produce a bounce for the nominee.

The American race is continued (for Obama)

Three days after, at Republican Party the Romney’s pick (Ryan) gave solutions to many questions, but it caused many problems. 

Specifically, Ryan is aggressive, communicative and he seems to know the economics.

But the old statement about the taxation of the middle class caused a negative impression. According to opinion polls, a large crowd is already negative person in this election.

The Obama's campaign is continued with some new ideas. Yesterday, the President spoke at Oskalousa. There, he pointed out the differences between Democrats and Republicans. His voters had gathered to hear him. After the speech many of them spoke about President Obama.

Thereby his staff tries to bring the focus of the election campaign the “American people”.

After the latest polls show Obama is not anxious about his re-election. He is ahead of Romney by 7 percentage points.

Some voters’ opinions for Obama:
“I think the stark difference is that the President ultimately stands for the working class and the middle class. And I know it almost gets to sound cliché—but they’ve got the data to support the claim that the Republicans are, in fact, in support of the richest and the wealthiest in America. That's who they want to aim the tax cuts toward, and they want to then pay for that on the backs of some of the middle-class, working Americans.”
—Scott, volunteer

“[President Obama] is trying to help the middle class. And having Mitt Romney trying to raise taxes on the middle class just really irritates me. I don't know how people can support that.”
—Danielle, student

"I’m voting for Obama. I wasn't old enough to vote in 2007, but I would have voted for Obama. I value everything that he supports, pretty much. So does my family."
—Taylor, student

“I'm a big Obama supporter. I believe his compassion, his empathy, his sense of where America needs to go is the right one that we need. And I think his family values and what we see from the Obama family is representative of the United States. These are real people that have come from where we are. I don’t think Mitt Romney has a clue what Americans are going through.”
—Wanda, retired

“[Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan] live in a different world that most of us don't. And they're just totally out of touch with reality and the working class people. Mitt Romney said in Des Moines at the State Fairgrounds that corporations are people, too, and that's how they feel. President Obama is trying to move this country forward. He’s created more than 4 million new jobs. I think things are on the right track.”
—Rick, firefighter

Obama' s team picks up the gauntlet

Within a few minutes after the interview Romney - Ryan on the show "60 minutes" a spokesman for the Obama campaign, Danny Kanner, blasted out an email: 

"If Mitt Romney needed to examine several years of tax returns to determine whether Paul Ryan was qualified to be Vice President, why won’t he let the American people see his own returns and determine if he himself is qualified to be President?"

 

Ryan responds to Obama for taxes (VIDEO)

The presidential candidate Mitt Romney and hiw running mate Paul Ryan gave a response to Obama's campaign, in an interview for “60 minutes”. The discussion revolved around Ryan’s proposals for more taxes on the middle class.

Yesterday the Obama team accused Ryan that he has prepared financial plan of whith the main axis is the new taxes. Read

Ryan said that: “It is a confidential vetting process. So there were several years. But I'm going to release the same amount of years that Governor Romney has. But I got to tell you Bob -- two, I'm going to be releasing two, which is what he's releasing -– what I hear from people around this country, they are not asking, 'Where are the tax returns,' they are asking where the jobs are? Where is the economic growth?”

Also Romney urged this: “Fairness dictates that the highest-income people should pay the greatest share of taxes, and they do”.

He continued: “And the commitment that I've made is we will not have the top income earners in this country pay a smaller share of the tax burden. The highest-income people will continue to pay the largest share of the tax burden and middle-income taxpayers, under my plan, get a break. Their taxes come down."

The Obama's War against Romney - Ryan (The Video)

All "weapons" technology used by the Obama team to attack the Republicans.

Within two days the Democrats built a video with Ryan's statements on economic policy. The Democrats support that "Paul Ryan is the mastermind behind the extreme GOP budget plan. It's a plan Mitt Romney endorses".

Also they wonder: "But what does that budget mean for America? The GOP budget plan hurts seniors, it hurts middle-class families, and it hurts students. All to pay for tax cuts for those at the top".

Finally, the Obama team believe: "Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan: back to the failed top-down policies that crashed our economy".

Watch the video:

The War Begun: Obama attacks Ryan

Barack Obama VS Paul Ryan

Barack Obama notes five facts for Paul Romney to personal website. The war will become harder and harder for two parties to win, until the elections.

After the Romney's announcment Ryan for candidate for vice-President, Ryan is the Obama's "target".

So, Obama and his collaborators claim that:

1. Paul Ryan’s top-down budget plan is a sham

Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney both support trillions in budget-busting tax cuts for millionaires that will result in tax hikes on the middle class and deep cuts in education and other investments we need to grow. Ryan’s extreme budget plan, which Mitt Romney has embraced, would make deep spending cuts now to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy, which would weaken the recovery and cost the economy jobs.

2. Paul Ryan’s plan would raise taxes on the middle class and cut taxes for the wealthy

Ryan’s extreme budget plan would benefit the wealthy while raising taxes on middle-class families, slowing our economic recovery and hurting seniors and the middle class.

3. Paul Ryan’s plan would gut middle-class investments

To pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest, Paul Ryan would gut investments critical to middle-class security.

4. Paul Ryan’s plan would end Medicare as we know it

Paul Ryan’s extreme budget would end Medicare as we know it, turning it into a voucher program which would increase seniors’ health costs by $6,350 a year. Ryan has also proposed a plan that would have privatized Social Security, subjecting seniors’ retirement security to the whims of the stock market.

5. Paul Ryan is severely conservative

Like Mitt Romney, Ryan’s severely conservative positions are out of touch with most Americans’ values. He would take us backward on women’s health and equal rights.

Obama characterized Ryan as "ideological leader" of Republicans

President Barack Obama is calling Mitt Romney's running mate the "ideological leader" of Republicans in Congress.

He says that ideology has led to gridlock, dysfunction and a top-down approach to growing the economy.

Addressing young supporters at a Chicago fundraiser, Obama called Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan a decent, family man and welcomed him to the presidential race.

But Obama says he fundamentally disagrees with Ryan's vision for the country. He says Ryan and his allies in Congress mistakenly believe that fewer regulations and tax breaks for the wealthy will help create jobs.

Romney announced Saturday he had chosen Ryan as his vice presidential candidate. Democrats pounced, arguing that Ryan's budget-cutting agenda will harm seniors, students and the middle class. 

(Via AP)

Blunder Romney: He announces Paul Ryan as next President of USA (Video)

Obama's response to Romney's choice of Ryan

Via Huffignton Post

President Barack Obama's campaign says Mitt Romney's selection of Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate shows a commitment to "budget-busting tax cuts" for the wealthy and "greater burdens" on the middle class and seniors.

Obama campaign manager Jim Messina calls Ryan is the "architect of the radical Republican House budget" proposal and says the plan "would end Medicare as we know it."

The Obama campaign said Saturday the Republican ticket would return the nation to "reckless Bush economic policies that exploded our deficit and crashed our economy."

Democrats are expected to seize upon Ryan's authorship of a House-backed budget plan that would curb overall entitlement spending and changes Medicare into a voucher-like system.

The president is traveling to Chicago on Saturday but had no public events planned.

The Paul Ryan's view about the elections

On 3 May Paul Ryan, in an interview with the weekly stadard, spoke about the elections.

He said that “it’s very clear from his [Romney's] last three or four speeches – and he’s very involved in writing these, setting this message – that he wants to bring this to a choice. Not just a referendum on Obama’s bad stewardship but on the American idea itself and a choice of two futures. It seems clear to me – because he’s embraced the kind of economic reforms we need to get the American idea back on track and prevent a debt crisis – that he is willing to bring this thing to the clear, clean choice it needs to be to give to the country. And that he’s ready to do that. And that for all the risk-aversion stories that have been written about him he seems to me that he’s gotten himself in the mindset of understanding the moment we are facing and the need to bring this real clear conversation to the country about the choice they have to make. And that these founding principles are really important. And so I really feel like – this is probably not the election he thought he was going to run, say two years ago when he first decided to run, but I think he’s become extremely comfortable and accepting of what it is and what it needs to be. Everything he says and does gives me a sense of that".

Paul Ryan

The die is cast! Mitt Romney' s Running Mate: Paul Ryan!

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan

The die is cast. Paul Ryan will be the Running Mate of Mitt Romney. The animate Republican President will announce Paul Ryan  as how Running Mate at the beginning of a four-day bus tour through states. In Norfolk on Saturday morning Romney will announce his choice.

Cnn reported that Romney and Ryan will appear together at an event in Norfolk, Virginia, at 9 a.m. ET.

Before a few days ago Romney had described, in an interview with NBC’s Chuck Todd,  the characteristics of Paul Ryan:

"I certainly expect to have a person that has a strength of character. A vision for the country, that, that adds something to the political discourse about the direction of the country. I mean I happen to believe this is a defining election for America; that we're gonna be voting for what kind of America we're gonna have".

Romney wants an agreement from Obama

The situation has changed. Many polls show that  the rating for Obama, who is running for re-election in November, climbed to 47 percent versus a 45 percent for Romney. There is a big problem for Republicans. Romney expressed a view about the campaign.   In spite of the Romney’s ads are negative for Obama, Romney would like a pledge with Obama barring "personal" attack ads.
NBC's First Read has the following excerpt from Romney's interview with Chuck Todd, conducted Thursday as part of a forthcoming documentary on MSNBC, in which he said:

 “Our campaign would be-- helped immensely if we had an agreement between both campaigns that we were only going to talk about issues and that attacks based upon-- business or family or taxes or things of that nature."

and

“We only talk about issues. And we can talk about the differences between our positions and our opponent's position.” 

and

“Our ads haven't gone after the president personally. We haven't dredged up the old stuff that people talked about last time around. We haven't gone after the personal things.”

New Romney ad against Obama's 'war on religion'

Good news for Obama! I

According to a just released CNN/ORC International poll Barack Obama has passed Mitt Romney for 7 points. This is score is the best for Obama in recent weeks.

CNN said about the score:

It all adds up to a seven point advantage for President Barack Obama over the former Massachusetts governor, with 52% of registered voters questioned in the survey saying that they'd vote to re-elect the president and 45% backing Romney.

What is the difference among the men and women?

"Among independent voters, the poll indicates President Obama has a 53%-42% lead," CNN Polling Director Keating Holland said. "The president holds a nine point advantage among women voters and a smaller six point edge among men."

There are some good news for Romney, too. As CNN notes:

The good news for Romney: Four months after he wrapped up the race for the GOP nomination, 56% of Romney voters say they strongly support him, up from 47% in May. Sixty-one percent of Obama voters say they strongly support the president.

Clint Eastwood for Mitt Romney

Clint Eastwood gave a strong endorsement to cantidate of Republicans Mitt Romney. The famous actor and director annonced hiw desicion. "I think the country needs a boost," Eastwood told The Associated Press.

He argued that "now more than ever do we need Gov. Romney. I'm going to be voting for him,". Moreover he hoped Romney would restore "a decent tax system that we need badly ... so that there's a fairness and people are not pitted against one another as who's paying taxes and who isn't."

When Romney discovered the Eastwood's endorsement said: "He just made my day. What a guy!"

Standing at Romney's side, Eastwood added he was filming "Mystic River" in Massachusetts almost a decade ago when he first saw political advertisements featuring Romney, who was running for governor at the time.

Eastwood said: "I said, God, this guy, he's too handsome to be governor, but he does look like he could be president. As the years have gone by I began to think even more so about that."

Mr Romney is challenging Mr Obama for the White House in autumn's presidential elections.