Is Mitt Romney “Presidential?” This quality is vitally important to possess when seeking the land’s highest office (think of our last president who didn’t look and/or act “Presidential” …I’m not coming up with one). I have always viewed Mitt Romney as exquisitely Presidential, but now there is polling evidence that confirms that I’m not alone in this opinion. Public Policy Polling recently conducted a poll and their conclusions are summed up in their own title “Only Romney Seen as Presidential Material“
Among all people polled (Republicans, Democrats, and Independents) Romney was viewed as presidential by more voters than any of the other GOP candidates, including Huckabee, Palin, and Gingrich. When asked if each candidate “was most qualified to be President or Vice President” the results for all voters are below (2008 John McCain voters sub-group in parentheses):
- Romney: 30% Pres, 20% VP; (50% Pres, 23% VP)
- Huckabee: 22% Pres, 27% VP; (37% Pres, 32% VP)
- Palin: 16% Pres, 32% VP; (30% Pres, 47% VP)
- Gingrich: 16% Pres, 27% VP; (30% Pres, 33% VP)
Full PDF crosstabs of the poll here.
So Romney is the only one of the four candidates that people view as more qualified to be Pres than VP. That is what we need in a nominee . . . someone people are confident in and comfortable imagining as POTUS!!
On a tangentially related (isn’t that an oxymoron?) note, Romney just had some AMAZING and IMPORTANT polling news come out of the Granite State. Mitt blows away all the other GOP possible contenders in a recent UNH/WMUR poll.
(Full PDF crosstabs here):
Republican Primary
- Mitt Romney 40%
- Rudy Giuliani 10%
- Tim Pawlenty 7%
- Mike Huckabee 7%
- Newt Gingrich 6%
- Sarah Palin 6%
- Ron Paul 5%
- Donald Trump 3%
- Rick Santorum 1%
- Haley Barbour 1%
- John Thune 0%
- Mitch Daniels 0%
- Gary Johnson 0%
For those that don’t want to add it all up the totals are Romney 40%, Everyone else 46%. But what’s even more encouraging is How Romney matches up with Obama in New Hampshire:
General Election
- Mitt Romney 49%
- Barack Obama 41%
- Barack Obama 44%
- Tim Pawlenty 37%
- Barack Obama 57%
- Sarah Palin 34%
Romney beats Obama by +8%, but Pawlenty loses by -7% (15% difference), and Palin loses by -23% (31% difference).
The favorability data is good news for Romney as well:
Favorable / Unfavorable {Net}
- Mitt Romney 73% / 16% {+57%}
- Rudy Giuliani 59% / 29% {+30%}
- Tim Pawlenty 34% / 9% {+25%}
- Mike Huckabee 50% / 28% {+22%}
- Newt Gingrich 41% / 40% {+1%}
- Sarah Palin 33% / 50% {-17%}
- Donald Trump 21% / 64% {-43%}
Keep in mind that Obama beat McCain by 10% in New Hampshire on election night in 2008.
KEY POINT ALERT!! . . . Romney brings the fight to Obama like no other GOP candidate can. Putting in play states like New Hampshire, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, and Michigan is something that Romney will do, and put the White House on defense in a new set of “battle ground” states.
This also brings up one last point. I’ve noticed that Romney and Huckabee are the two top GOP dogs in national and state polling vs Obama for the last several months. However, if you look at state data individually, Huckabee is beating Obama by HUGE margins in the southern states, but lags badly in many ”purple” states. Although Romney beats Obama in the South as well, it is by smaller (though still comfortable) margins. But in the electoral college system, winning Tennessee by 5% (or 0.0001% for that matter) gives you as many electoral votes as does winning by 25%. What this means is that Huckabee’s general election national polling is not indicative of a demographic/electoral map that can pull off a win on election night. He is largely a regional candidate and most westerners/northerners don’t seem to care for him too much. Romney’s got a much wider and broader appeal and can bring the fight to Obama with a strong electoral strategy.
Yes, Romney is by far our most PRESIDENTIAL AND ELECTABLE candidate. Let’s get behind him and help make his nomination and subsequent election a reality!
