Obama Opens 8-Point Lead In Pew Poll; Big Advantage With Women, Blacks, Young
02:23 pm September 19, 2012 by Liz Halloran
President Obama leads Republican Mitt Romney by 8 points nationally, 51-43 percent among likely voters, as the race heads into the final stretch, according to a new Pew Research Center poll released Wednesday.
Obama’s advantage, particularly among women, blacks, and voters under age 30, puts him "in a strong position compared with past victorious presidential candidates," Pew reported.
Obama’s lead at this point in the race, Pew President Andrew Kohut told NPR’s Robert Siegel, is "stronger than the last three winning presidential candidates." Only Bill Clinton, running in both 1992 and 1996, had bigger leads in mid-September.
Clinton’s edge over incumbent President George H.W. Bush at this stage in 1992 was 53-38 percent; he led Republican Sen. Bob Dole 50-48 percent at this stagein 1996. Obama was tied with Republican Sen. John McCain at this point in 2008.
Pew’s survey of 2,424 registered voters, completed before this week’s flap over Romney’s videotaped "47 percent" comments, showed voters about evenly divided on which candidate they prefer on issues of jobs and the deficit.
The survey found, however, that Obama leads Romney on most key issues, including, and "notably," Kohut says, "healthcare, Medicare, and abortion."
