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"It is likely he will be re-elected, in my opinion," veteran Republican pollster Wes Anderson says.
Anderson, a former polling director for the Republican National Committee, predicted this election would be closer for Obama than in 2008, when he beat Sen. John McCain by 53 to 46 percent and won in 28 states.
Former New Hampshire Republican Party chairman Fergus Cullen said the symbolic power of Obama’s election as the first black president carries enormous good will that will be difficult for Republicans to overcome.
"Centrist voters and the ones who decide elections are still fundamentally rooting for the guy," Cullen said.
Pollster Andrew Kohut of the nonpartisan Pew Research Center compared Obama’s place in 2011 to President Ronald Reagan’s at a similar point during his first term, more than a year before he won re-election in 1984.
"They both came from an ideological wing of the party and they are perceived that way. Both were hit with real bad economies and the public turned on them," Kohut said. "Right now, Obama’s ahead of where Reagan was in ’83."
So far, the only concrete challenge to Obama’s policies has come from House Republicans who approved a budget this year written by Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., that aimed to reduce long-term deficits by more than $5 trillion over 10 years.
The plan’s proposal to fundamentally overhaul Medicare became a key issue in a special House election in New York last week, leading to a Democratic victory in a predominantly Republican district.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/us...rmat=&page=2&listingType=politics#articleFull
Anderson, a former polling director for the Republican National Committee, predicted this election would be closer for Obama than in 2008, when he beat Sen. John McCain by 53 to 46 percent and won in 28 states.
Former New Hampshire Republican Party chairman Fergus Cullen said the symbolic power of Obama’s election as the first black president carries enormous good will that will be difficult for Republicans to overcome.
"Centrist voters and the ones who decide elections are still fundamentally rooting for the guy," Cullen said.
Pollster Andrew Kohut of the nonpartisan Pew Research Center compared Obama’s place in 2011 to President Ronald Reagan’s at a similar point during his first term, more than a year before he won re-election in 1984.
"They both came from an ideological wing of the party and they are perceived that way. Both were hit with real bad economies and the public turned on them," Kohut said. "Right now, Obama’s ahead of where Reagan was in ’83."
So far, the only concrete challenge to Obama’s policies has come from House Republicans who approved a budget this year written by Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., that aimed to reduce long-term deficits by more than $5 trillion over 10 years.
The plan’s proposal to fundamentally overhaul Medicare became a key issue in a special House election in New York last week, leading to a Democratic victory in a predominantly Republican district.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/us...rmat=&page=2&listingType=politics#articleFull