For our blog this week, I want you to take a look at an interesting article recently published in The New York Times. After clicking the link below and reading the corresponding article, I have a very simple question for you: if Romney goes on to win the Republican nomination, should be considered the favorite or an underdog against President Obama? After observing Obama's current approval ratings, should he be concerned? What factors might cause his ratings to increase or decrease over the next several months?
Approval Ratings Article
15 comments:
In my opinion, I think Romney should be the favorite, because he will be a new and fresh face that could be president. He has many plans and ideas that will be beneficial for everyone and seems to have a solid idea of what he wants to do. Hopefully, he will actually go through with what he wants to accomplish unlike Obama, no offense Maggie. Obama is well liked by only half of the people at the moment so Romney should not be too worried. Romney still needs to keep his guard up and do whatever he can to win, he can not underestimate Obama and what he can do, especially as an incumbent and with all the money he has. Obama only has a 51% approval rating and if he chooses to keep the abortion section in his healthcare proposal, his rating may significantly go down from the disapproval of Catholics. As an incumbent president, Obama should have a much higher rating but since he has not accomplished much while in office his rating has decreased since he was elected, so yes, he should be concerned that Romney may win. There is always the factor of culture that lures Obama's followers, so although many people do not agree with his plans, since he is the first Black president they may vote for him again, this somehow always increases his approval rating.
I concur with Victoria as I am sure you somewhat expected. I think that if Romney goes on to win the Republican nomination (which will most likely happen) then he should be slightly favored more than Obama. Obama is in a critical situation and he's already showing his inconsistency and his concerns. Romney would be someone new and is the only chance that maybe America will start to change and become more stable. Obama's been in office almost four full years and to me, he hasn't done much of anything productive. I don't agree with his views on most things and with what is currently going on with his health care plan, I think a good majority of Americans, Christians in particular, would agree with that. Obama is a good speaker and is well known. He will have supporters nomatter what he does. But all eyes are on him right now and the slight little mistakes will add up and tear him down. Romney is new, fresh, different, and will provide America with new ideas. We need something to change to help our country and I think many people will favor this change by changing to a new and improved president. I think Obama should be concerned because it is a close running and his little mistakes are going to leave him lagging behind. Obama's ratings are already decrreasing with most CHristians and will continue to decrease if he tries to pass anything in relation to abortion and being pro-choice. His apporval ratings might increase if somehow he miraculously decreases the deficit or gets Americans back to work without increasing the deficit. But let's be realistic, that most likely will not happen. WIth all eyes on Obama, every single thing he does will put his reelection at jeopardy so he should be very concerned and very careful if he wants to win reelection.
If Romney were to receive the Republican nomination, I definitely feel he will still be the underdog. Despite Obama's low approval ratings, Obama still has a lot of money to put towards campaigning and grabbing the attention of urban communities and he has the incumbency advantage. However, he still should be a little concerned as well. Just because he has the support of many African Americans, he's already had 4 years to try and prove himself to the nation. This obviously didn't go so well for him. Sure he got stuff done, but in the eyes of many citizens, it still isn't enough. On the other hand, because of his incumbent advantage and the split in the Republican party, his chances of re-election are still high despite his low approval ratings. The future of the economy is and will always be a deciding factor of how the general public will feel towards the president. In the end, whoever wins the election, it is more likely that nothing will get done because either Republicans will be devastated because of Obama's re-election, or people within the Republican party won't be able to agree on certain issues since their support isn't already geared towards one main candidate.
If Romney were to win the Republican nomination, which is most likely going to happen, I think that he will still be the underdog. Although Romney is the best candidate for the general election, he has come from a weak party that looks really disorganized. Also, Obama has a huge advantage over him, due to his amount of money from incumbency. Since Obama only has a 51% approval rate, placing him in that gray area between winning and losing, he should definitely be concerned. The Republican party has been unpredictable so you never know what will happen. Obama needs to closely consider every proposal and decision he makes because a lot of people are already fed-up with him. For example, his laws on abortion and insurance coverage on birth control has already lost him a lot of support, especially from Christians. His health care proposal also has many people ticked-off. Obama's approval ratings can increase if he makes good and solid proposals on how to decrease our nation's debt or plans to improve our economy. In my opinion, I feel that part of Obama's approval rating is due to the fact that people don't believe that there is a Republican candidate that is strong enough to beat Obama. But, like a said before, at this point in the race anything can happen.
I think that this election will be extremely interesting. Romney and Obama definitely will have their hands full. If Romney can really pull himself together and the Republican party can agree to support him as best they can, then i think that Romney will have a fairly good chance of winning the election. It will not be by a landslide, but i think he could be able to pull of the win by a small voter percentage. I do not think this last year for Obama will be economically good because he has not done much during his presidency so I feel that even if he tries, nothing will have enough time to even get passed. Also, I think his new and revised healthcare bill is already (and will cause significantly more) of a decrease in his approval ratings if he does not change it soon, which i do not think he will do. Almost all Christians will not want to have anything to do with him and that will probably be a main factor of him not being re-elected. It is certain that it will definitely be interesting to see how the race pans out over the next upcoming months.
If Romney receives the Republican nomination the outcome of the election could go either way. Obama still has support and his campaign could bring just enough people to vote for him to win the election. Since he is really good at getting new voters to get out and vote. Romney, however, is attracting the people who are tired of the job President Obama is doing, and offering new ideas to the economic situation. Since Obama has not kept a few of the promises he made in 2008, many people are turning to the Republican Party. Unfortunately since the primary election for the Republicans is so close between Romney, Gingrich, and Santorum the Republican Party is slitting. In the end I think they will eventually come together to achieve their overall goal of getting Obama out of office. I think Obama should be a little nervous because the slightest thing he does in office could cause the public to get mad and cost him the election. This happened with Obama putting abortion rights into his healthcare plan, causing many Christians to turn to the Republicans. However, I also feel that if Obama doesn't do anything because of his fear of the public's reaction could cost him the election as well. Each of them has followers for different reasons, and both of them have a chance of winning the election, but because of the economic status the country is in I think many people are uncertain of who is the better candidate. Obama is better and convincing people that he will change things, but the Republicans are offering new ideas. Both candidates should be concerned with the election.
For the general election this year, Obama will be running up against a Republican candidate. I strongly believe that, in this case, Romney will win this Republican nomination. However, in terms of running against Obama, I feel like Romney will remain the underdog. Even though Obama’s approval ratings are around the 50 percent range I don’t believe that Romney will have the strength to beat him. Obama has some advantages on his hands. One, he is the incumbent. For those who don’t know much about politics and don’t really care they will most likely vote for the person who previously was in office, in this case Obama. Also, Obama has many loyal supporters from when he first ran for president. He is more well-known amongst people, and for some people that is the deciding factor for them. Romney, on the other hand, does not have these advantages. His name isn’t as well-known as Obamas and he doesn’t have the role of incumbent. Along with these points, another disadvantage that he has is that the Republican Party seems to be currently split. As of right now, republican supporters are torn between different candidates, some of which don’t support Romney at all. However, I am not saying that Romney is the underdog by much. I believe that Romney and Obama are very close, in terms of who is in the lead. Obama just has a couple of advantages that puts him in the lead. All it takes is a little mistake for Obama to bump him down as underdog. As of right now, some things that are hurting his approval ratings are the state of the economy. He said he was going to do more to fix that, but he hasn’t done all that he has said. However, with the state of the economy being poor, ways he could increase his approval ratings is by coming up and passing some kind of program that can turn our economy around for the better.
I do not think that if Romney wins the Republican nomination one could consider his the favorite or the underdog against President Obama. After looking at the chart and seeing that Obama's approval rating is almost exactly 50-50 at this point I think by the actual election the approval ratings could go either way. Depending on how well Obama does the next few months he could make it or blow it for himself. It is up to Romney on how well he is going to do and how well he is going to campaign over the next few months. If he really gets his name out there he could become the favorite while Obama's ratings drop. On the other hand if Obama's ratings go up while Romney is still pulling a strong campaign through Romney could be considered the underdog. I think Obama should be concerned with his approval ratings because they could fluctuate either way very easily over the next few months because he is so close to the line. Depending on how well Obama does in Congress passing legislative and pulling through with executing them Obama's ratings could go either way.
I think that because President Obama is the incumbent nominee, and has all the perks available to him, Romney should be considered the underdog. It isn't even the presidential race yet and already Romney has spent millions of dollars on campaigning (which I think i ridiculous but that's another story. Also, Barack Obama has a firm African American voter base, and Romney doesn't have that ethnic pull for whites. He has to convince the moderates and the right wingists that he is the right person to vote for. However, I do feel that Obama should feel concerned about his voter approval ratings because he can't win the White House on only the votes of his staunchest supporters. He needs to find a way to convince the moderates that he is the one to turn this economy around or he will not be in the White House next year. The factors that may cause his popularity to increase or decrease are the unemployment reports, the overall state of the economy, and how he deals with the debt crisis that is now at hand. If he is able to improve on any of these factors, he may see a jump in approval ratings.
I think that just the fact that Obama is an african american candidate that happens to be the current president tells us automatically that Romney is the underdog. Though he may be a strong candidate and tough competition for Obama, he is still a republican white man who has a smaller pull of the media because he is not president. I do completely agree that this will be a close race, and even though Romney is the underdog Obama should be scared. His approval ratings are low, and if they continue to decrease, which is very likely considering the state of the economy, then he will not be in the white house next year. He has almost no one on Capital Hill rooting for him, and about 1/2 of the nation is unhappy with him. Romney may not be anywhere near perfect, but Obama has a lot of fixing up to do if he really wants to be in the Oval Office once again next year.
First of all Barack has got to fix unemployment rates at least a little bit. It is one of the things that has lowered his approval ratings most, and it is an issue that most very American is concerned about. Also he needs to prove to some of us right-wingers that maybe he won't screw up the economy too much in his next four years in office. However I do not believe that he can accomplish either of these tasks, and therefore Obama will not be in office come next year.
P.S Maggie: Correction- the republican party is split between Romney, Gingrich, AND Ron Paul. Come on girl.
If Romney wins the nomination for the Republican Party which we all believe he will, I think it will be very close between him and Obama. I could also see him being the underdog too. Obama has a lot of power: money, strong supporters, incumbency advantage, and his race. However, the nation is very wishy-washy on him right now which is understandable. I think these last few months will really tell how America feels. It depends on what he gets done, how he acts, and how strong the support for Romney is. I think with the fighting between the Republicans and uncertainty in the party is lowering Romney from being a big threat. If he can be defeated by fellow members in his party in certain states, what will happen when he goes up against Obama? The Republican Party really needs to put their support behind him to be successful in getting Obama out of the oval office. Obama still needs to be concerned though. His approval rates are not looking that great and he has hard challenges ahead of him. I agree with the article when they say that the economy and jobs are one of the biggest issues facing him. I think this healthcare problem with Catholics is another main factor he should be concerned about. Even though most Catholics are said to be Republicans, this is still upsetting many and can cause a big uproar. Other things could be getting along with Congress and issues with national security and terrorism. Both men have a lot going for them but they, like anyone, have obstacles they must overcome. This race is going to be very interesting and it in my opinion is more exciting because we don’t know what will happen. Even though we all have our own personal views, I think we all can agree that this will be fun to watch and see how far these men will go to become the President of the United States for the year 2012.
When, not if, Romney wins the Republican nomination, he will be the favorite against Obama. Obama should be extremely concerned because he has no chance against Romney. Romney is much more appealing to Americans and will attract Republicans, moderates, independents, and liberals. At this point, Obama has most of the liberal votes and some independent votes. Romney is clearly the right choice for president. Many Americans who voted for Obama four years ago will not vote for him this year because of what he has done so far in his term. One of the biggest things Obama has done is increase our debt to an insane amount of money. Obama has also done nearly nothing to improve our economy or unemployment rate. Also, many Americans are upset that he didn't pass Keystone. Many people are upset that Obama removed the troops from Iraq because there is still a threat in the Middle East. One of the big things Obama has recently done that will greatly affect the amount of people who vote for him is Obama's overreach of religious freedom concerning abortion and birth control. I highly doubt that Obama will be able to do anything to greatly increase his approval ratings in the next couple of months. The negative things that have happened since Obama took office far outweigh the positive things. Americans will realize this by November and make the smart decision of voting for Mitt Romney.
I think that it will be a very close election between President Obama and Mitt Romney if Romney wins the Republican nomination. Neither candidate could clearly be known as the “underdog” because I think that they are equally liked by American voters. If I had to choose, I would say that Romney would be considered the underdog because Obama has incumbency advantage, and according to the trends, presidents who had approval ratings similar to Obama’s were generally able to gain re-election as long as their ratings hovered around 50% going into the election. However, I also feel that Romney has a chance of defeating Obama because he has not made the mistakes that Obama has make, so the American public does not have strong reasons to dislike him yet. Like others have mentioned, if Obama does not take certain actions, such as removing the abortion portion from his health care bill, he will lose many voters’ support. In order to win, Obama must pick and choose the groups he wants to please in order to guarantee their support. As the article said, the economy pays a large role in determining who will win this election, and if the economy significantly improves before November, Obama will probably win the support of undecided voters. If the economy grows increasingly worse, Romney will probably gain the support of unsure voters simply because he is a chance for change and a fresh face. Also in order to secure Republican votes, Romney must be able to unite his own party by giving them the idea that getting Obama out of office is more important than who replaces him.
I don't think that Mitt Romney or Obama should be considered the favorite in the upcoming election if Romney wins the Republican nomination. There are Obama fanatics that do not care what Obama does and will still vote for him. These are the people whom he one over during his campaign in 2008. Along with supporters, he has just as many haters. This fact is seen in his approval rate of 51%. Therefore, Obama cannot be seen as either the favorite or the underdog, and if Obama is neither of the two, Romney cannot be either. As of now, I believe this election is fair game for the candidate that runs the best campaign. Mitt Romney should definitely be concerned about Obama's approval ratings, but he should not be overly concerned with them. He should always try hard to fight against Obama, but should try to focus on himself and his individual campaign. I believe that will encourage more people to vote for him. There are many things that could increase or decrease his approval ratings. Currently, the Catholic Church is outraged by his healthcare bill so that could lower his approval ratings. If somehow the economy improved that would increase his approval ratings.
I agree with the article when it said that Mitt Romney would have the best chance at winning the election against Obama. However I still think that he will be the underdog. Because the Republican Party is so split between candidates right now, I think that is going to have a big effect on how well they do in the election. Obama’s approval ratings may be dangerously low but I still believe that he has an advantage. If Romney does not get the nomination, which I don’t think is going to happen, then I think that Obama has a serious chance at winning the election. The Republican Party really needs to lock down a candidate so they can start supporting one person as a untied party and come together because them being divided makes Obama’s job a lot easier.
There are a lot of things that could cause his ratings to increase or decrease. The state of our economy is always majorly effects a president’s approval ratings so if our economy gets any better, or any worse, then that would definitely effect his ratings. But since the election is such a short time away I doubt that the state of our economy Is going to change much. Unless something pretty significant happens, Obama’s approval ratings are probably going to stay pretty much where there at now.
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