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.

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

"Something dramatic" the economic plan of Romney

Without explains, without details Mitt Romney was calling for “something dramatic” to help the nation’s economy. Is it a new package of provisions? No, Romney said. Certainly the Republican presidential contender says in an interview airing on CNN’s “State of the Union” that dramatic action doesn’t include another federal stimulus package.
The focus of his attention is the growth and the development. Romney instead favours the creation of “incentives and opportunities” for businesses — “big and small” — to boost hiring. Also Romeny propose the policies of reduce of unemployment.
He says he’ll create 12 million jobs in his first term in the White House, as part of the “normal process” of economic recovery.
Romney has been slow to release specifics for his economic plans so far.

"I can absolutely make the case that now is the time for something dramatic and it is not the time to grow government. It's the time to create the incentives and the opportunities for entrepreneurs and businesses big and small to hire more people and that's going to happen. (…) You're going to see that happen in this country but not under this president".