Romney now leads Obama among registered voters; 60% of Americans flunk the Democrat on the economy

It's one of those polls that says on-the-one-hand there's good news while on the other hand there's more good news.

A new Gallup Poll out this morning finds that President Obama's poll bump from courageously having the Navy SEALs whack Osama bin Laden has evaporated, and Republican former Gov. Mitt Romney is indeed the GOP front-runner heading into tonight's New Hampshire debate.

The new ABC/Washington Post survey finds that among all Americans Romney and Obama are tied at 47% each. However, ominously for the incumbent, among registered voters, the millionaire businessman leads the ex-state senator who often voted Present, 49%-47%.

By a two-to-one margin Americans told pollsters the country is seriously on the wrong track under the current Democratic admninistration and nearly six-in-ten say that regardless of government stats, the economy is not recovering. Time for another big speech on the huge hole he inherited from you-know-who.

This the day after Obama's top economic advisor Austan Goolsbee announced his resignation because, he says, a Chicago classroom beckons.

With barely 518 days before the election, fully nine-in-ten Americans rate the economy poorly, according to the poll.

Thank goodness for Obama's spate of factory visits and putting Vice President Joe Biden in charge of the stimulus package; imagine the hole they'd be in without that.

About 60% give the Democrat a bad grade on his economy job performance, while even more political independents -- nearly two-thirds -- give him failing marks, including for the first time a slight majority who do so strongly, another ominous sign for incumbents.

About 45% now trust congressional Republicans more than the president on the economy, if you can believe such a thing. That's a whopping 11 point gain for the GOP delegation just since March.

Although it's months before any Republican primary/caucus voting, Romney appears best positioned as the challenger at the moment on a broad range of issues in Americans' minds.

However, in a no doubt encouraging sign for another former Republican governor, Sarah Palin, who may perhaps possibly be considering a presidential run, there's still about one-in-three Americans who have yet to definitely rule out voting for her ever no matter what.

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-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Associated Press; Joe Burbank, file.

Comments

[bootcut]

Romney, Obama, Bush,Palin, doesn't matter who the next president is. Most Americans couldn't pick a good president if they saw one.

[Pecos 45]

Well, this is great. Now we've got David Koresh in a business suit leading the field.
Remember, the Mormons are basically just Branch Davidians with better haircuts.

[mike]

"We need to understand the more government spends, the more freedom is lost...Instead of simply debating spending levels, we ought to be debating whether the departments, agencies, and programs funded by the budget should exist at all."
— Ron Paul

[Robert]

So, where's the good news?

[Windfall]

You have your Marxist president. Now you get to suffer through your Marxist economics lesson.

Free market capitalism didn’t create the financial crisis and neither did deregulation.

From Walter Williams, Ph.D. (Professor of Economics, George Mason University)…

“The Federal Register, which lists new regulations, annually averaged 72,844 pages between 1977 and 1980. During the Reagan years, the average fell to 54,335. During the Bush I years, they rose to 59,527, to 71,590 during the Clinton years and rose to a record of 75,526 during the Bush II years.

“Employees in government regulatory agencies grew from 146,139 in 1980 to 238,351 in 2007, a 63 percent increase. In the banking and finance industries, regulatory spending between 1980 and 2007 almost tripled, rising from $725 million to $2.07 billion.

“So here's my question: What are we to make of congressmen, talking heads and news media people who tell us the financial meltdown is a result of deregulation and free markets? Are they ignorant, stupid or venal?”

http://econfaculty.gmu.edu/wew/articles/09/CongressFinancialMess.htm

Corporate jobs didn't go overseas because of labor costs. They went overseas because (a) regulatory costs in the United States not only not competitive, they are in many cases prohibitive and (b) the corporate tax rate in the U.S. is 35 percent while the rest of the world averages 20 percent.

Capital is agnostic. It goes where it can make a profit.

But large corporations account for only a quarter or less of the jobs created in the United States. The real job creating engines are small businesses financed by their owners (bootstrapped) and new businesses backed by venture capital investors (aka “the rich”).

When the Marxist Democrats talk about "the rich" paying "their fair share", "the rich" are listening. They see an even more hostile business environment in the future. Where is the incentive to invest under those conditions?

Then you have the ObamaCare fiasco... more government mandates, more bureaucracy, more uncertainty as to both costs and benefits. This is not an operating environment conducive to economic expansion.

If you want to create jobs and opportunities, the most powerful lever is to eliminate taxes on investment especially the capital gains tax. Allowing successful investors and entrepreneurs to reinvest 100 percent of their profits is the most power job creating dynamic in the universe.

When you redistribute these profits through taxation and government programs, you get less job and opportunity creating investment. You also get voting blocks that demand more and more handouts.

This has been the Marxist Democrats’ strategy for years. Take from the productive two to give to the unproductive five because the three handout receivers that will show up to vote hold more power at the ballot box than the two productive people.

If he really wants to create jobs and opportunities, Clueless Comrade Barry is doing everything 100 percent wrong. If he wants to create a permanent dependent class and enslave the rest of the country, his plan is working perfectly.

Bottom line: Have you figured out yet that you can't redistribute your way to prosperity or do you need to keep suffering?

[Carl]

The New Hampshire debate is next Monday not tonight.

[Steve]

Remember when Fred Thompson was ahead in the polls? And, before that, Colin Powell? Polls this early don't mean much, especially when some candidates may be a blank slate for many voters-- the voters read into a candidate their hopes on policies, etc., wishing that they will be better than the candidates (and incumbent) they know.

[elyaad]

GOP are destroying America and continue doing so until they get the presedency. they don't care an America they don't lead goes down to the ditch

[Eric]

Man, I don't remember the L.A. Times being so conservative when I lived there a few years ago. Ick.

[Johnjcpa]

Might be significant if Romney actually gets to nomination. His chances of surviving primaries are not much better than his not having one of the wing nuts going for a third party run.

[Contarian]

Doing your best to ignore the only candidate out there who isn't a collectivist, eh Times?
Ron Paul, 2012.

[Raul X. Garcia]

I hate to break it to most of you folks, regardless of the shoddy job Obama aka Ronald Reagan lite has done, G.W. Bush continues to be the biggest spending president in the history of this country.

If you folks want to kill Medicare and Social Security, privatize our schools and fire departments, send more jobs overseas, give more tax cuts the ultra rich, while looking forward to a career with McDonalds go ahead and vote Republican in 2012.

[digitaljoe]

Well, here we go again. Americans will once again vote in haste and repent at their leisure. In general, voters are quite uneducated regarding economics, thus the immature impatience and expectations for recovery from the Great Recession. Unfortunately we're due for another round of voodoo economics rather than sitting tight and dealing with the structural problems that are the reality of our economy.

[cbk16]

So much for the media's calling Romney a weak candidate.

[Annoyed]

Given the partisan hatchet tone of this publicity release / article, I'm compelled to inquire if such authors are still called "journalists" - and if so, why?

[Winston]

This is good news for America. Get rid of Obama in 2012

[vegasgirl]

Romney may lead for now, but I have the feeling once people discover what a phony he is, they'll have second thoughts. (Not to say Obama won't have a tough time next year; he will. When the economy is bad, the president pays the price.)

[vegasgirl]

Mr. Malcolm: I don't know much Romney is paying you to shil for him, but you can get off your kneepads now. What a blatantly biased piece of propaganda. Shame on you, sir.

[JE]

Great article. I saw Romney on Piers Morgan tonight. His wife was lovely. She is witty, fun, and beautiful. Mitt was respectable and intelligent. I would believe in America again if Romney was president.

[DrJJJ]

4 DAY WORK WEEK for most of government is one of the solutions (32hr week/20% less pay) Saves jobs, it's the green thing to do, should increase productivity and has other positive effects (traffic, etc) PASS IT ON we need to talk solutions in a hurry!! Flatten management too-too many empty suits with 6 figure comp doing next to nothing!

[DrJJJ]

Well said Robert (below) 1 out of 5 work in government now!

Also: A recent Treasury report noted that national debt will exceed the size of the economy this year -- a first since World War II. A year ago, the Treasury had estimated that notorious record wouldn't be hit until 2014.
Also, raise sin taxes on alcohol, gambling and porn- the industries we could never tax enough to pay for the harm/costs to society! Vote democrats out if they can't find the will to change/make deep cuts! At least Republicans will make the cuts (now)! We've reached the tipping point folks!

[Steve Gagne]

This "poll" is a total fabrication. Dems don't want Romney, and neither do Repubs. You think Inds can overrule BOTH ??? Are you freakin' kidding?