Obama vs. Romney: Which One Can Defy Political History to Win?
Barack Obama and Mitt Romney both carry so much political baggage that one or the other will have to defy modern political history to win in November.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Barack Obama and Mitt Romney both carry so much political baggage that one or the other will have to defy modern political history to win in November.
The experience of the former Soviet Union’s struggles to make the transition to a more open society holds an important lesson for the Middle East, a region in which the democratic tide still swells despite panicked opposition from some and the efforts of others to regulate its tempo.
While the focus this year has been on the GOP’s race, Democrats express about as much interest in 2012 candidates as do Republicans.
On issues ranging from the rising power of China to the desirability of bipartisan cooperation and the outlook for the nation’s future, Americans expressed views over the course of the past year that are likely to have consequences for the future course of U.S. policy and governance.
Republicans continue to hold a solid lead in preferences for Tuesday’s midterm elections among likely voters — enough so as to suggest they will win control of the House. The GOP owes its lead to strong backing from independents and record-levels of engagement among its partisans.
An older and much more conservative electorate than in 2006 and 2008 propelled the Republican Party to a broad victory in the 2010 midterm elections. But the vote was more repudiation than endorsement. Views of the Republican Party are no more positive than those of the Democratic Party.
There will almost certainly be far more nonvoters than voters this year. Nonvoters are younger, less educated and more financially stressed than likely voters. They are also significantly less Republican and more likely to approve of Obama’s job performance.
While it is not unusual for foreign policy to take a back seat during difficult economic times, the absence of concern at a time when American troops are fighting a war in Afghanistan, and the threat of terrorism remains high is remarkable.
Two years ahead of the next presidential election, the public is divided (47% yes, 42% no ) over whether Barack Obama should run for a second term. However, this is better than the outlook for Ronald Reagan in August 1982
Millennials continue to be among the strongest backers of Democratic candidates this fall, though their support for the Democratic Party has slipped since 2008. But young voters have given far less thought to the coming elections than have older voters, and this gap is larger than in previous midterms.
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