A New Poll Suggests GOP Tricks Aren't Working

       While there's been lots of talk about how bad this last month has been for the President a new poll out from Bloomberg gives him the best news he's had in weeks-it shows him with a 13 point lead among likely voters:

        "Obama leads Romney 53 percent to 40 percent among likely voters, even as the public gives him low marks on handling the economy and the deficit, and six in 10 say the nation is headed down the wrong track, according to the poll conducted June 15-18."

       http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-20/obama-leads-in-poll-as-voters-view-romney-as-out-of-touch.html

       It also doesn't seem people are buying the Romney narrative that his Bain experience makes him especially qualified to be President. One of the most amusing aspects of the recent offensive against the President is this claim that he's out of touch with Americans. Of course a lot was made because he said the "private sector is fine."

       Though they kept repeating and repeating it, the President's point is well taken-the private sector has been showing consistent job growth for 3 years, the drag has been cuts in state and local government jobs. Then Romney declared he planned to further cut the jobs of the police, firemen, and teachers due to his fallacious belief they don't contribute to wealth.

      Who is more out of touch than Romney? A guy who makes $10,000 bets at the drop of a hat, who says "I like cars" and "I really like sport?" and yes is even out of touch with Americans in the way he treats his dog. He thinks that $350,000 is not much money and tells college women they should "vote for the other guy."

       Yet the GOP is trying to claim that Obama-or anyone-is more out of touch than Mr. Silver Spoons. The American people aren't buying it:

       "The survey shows Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, has yet to repair the damage done to his image during the Republican primary. Thirty-nine percent of Americans view him favorably, about the same as when he announced his presidential candidacy last June, while 48 percent see him unfavorably -- a 17-percentage point jump during a nomination fight dominated by attacks ads. A majority of likely voters, 55 percent, view him as more out of touch with average Americans compared with 36 percent who say the president is more out of touch."

       Sorry. No one is more out of touch than Mitch Willard Romney-he is the most out of touch man in America. This is why this out of touch party has nominated him.

      "About a third of likely voters rate Romney best at understanding their problems and struggles, and dealing with world leaders, while Obama draws majorities on both. And just 34 percent of respondents prefer Romney to Obama in appearing regularly on their TV and computer screens for the next four years; the president is the pick of 54 percent. Obama’s favorability ratings are the reverse of Romney’s, with 55 percent of Americans viewing the president positively, while 42 percent don’t."

      The President has been hurt by events beyond his control. Naturally the opportunistic GOP hopes to benefit from them. But it seems it's not working. It maybe that even Angela Merkel can't hand the election to Romney.

    And the Repugs are reeling from that President's Dream Act Lite Executive Order. All they can do is try the tired game of acting like he invented the Executive Order-some sort of usurpation of Congress' right to act. Yes they say that with a straight face-the most Do Nothing Congress since Harry Truman is complaining that they wanted to do something. This has basically taken away any chance the GOP has of making any inroads with Hispanics.

   The GOP doesn't like to talk about Geroge W. Bush too much which is understandable. He remains one of the most unpopular Presidents ever and if they hope to convince anyone Romney isn't totally out of touch they will continue not to bring him up. Yet, there is one positive legacy of the Bush years they could learn from but of course ignore.

    Bush did well with Latino voters. He was charming in his own way with his mangled Spanish which many people appreciated. Since then the GOP has turned so intolerant of Latino immigration and the 40% Hispanic vote that Bush could count on is a memory. Ironically if the GOP had a chance with Latinos they would have learnt from one of the few positive legacies that Bush left. Unfortunately they learned nothing from this and instead doubled down on all the worst ideas like even more budget busting tax cuts for the wealthy.