Pew and PPP polls--Obama's Demise Continues

If you received a fund-raising e-mail from the Obama campaign, you'll know that they are scaring you with the prospects of a Romney win. I thought it was an adroit use of the two bad polls in the New York Times and the Washington Post. And even Bloomberg had Obama and Romney tied.

So let's see how far Obama has fallen. PEW released its latest poll today that showed Obama beating Romney 54 to 42 among registered voters. President Obama hit the 50% job approval rating for the first time since May 2011. President Obama is favorably thought of by voters by a 56%-41 margin.

Mitt Romney has a low 29% favorability rating against 51% unfavorable. In my day that meant the candidate was dead. There is an enthusiasm gap between Obama supporters and Romney voters. 41% of Obama supporters are strongly for the President, while only 28% of Romney supporters strongly support him. The gap grows wider against Santorum. Obama supporters are 45% strongly in favor of the President and Santorum has 28% strong support.

In terms of "engagement", Republicans have a slight edge . 71% have given their choice quite a lot of thought, while only 64% of Democrats have done the same. But this gap is far less than in 2010.

Talking Points Memo's poll tracker has Obama at 46.% versus Willard at 42.9%.

OK, these national polls change with the weather but what about at the state level. PPP released this morning their tenth poll of Pennsylvania since President Obama took office. President Obama has polled the best today than in all the past Pennsylvania polls. He leads Romney by 49 to 42. Where the rubber meets the road is among independents. Romney has a 32 favorable/51 unfavorable rating among them. And Obama, who has trailed among independents in the past, has a 51-38 lead.

A side effect of these polls is to damage Romney's claim at being the most electable Republican and actually being viable.