Visual source:
Newseum
NY Times on the new CBS/NYT poll (tie with Romney at 45):
“I’m not saying Obama hasn’t done anything good, and maybe it’s not fair to blame him or the administration, but I just think there were more expectations for an improvement on economic issues,” said Elaine Vignali, 60, a homemaker and independent voter from Uniontown, Pa. She added that she was deeply frustrated, declaring, “To be honest, if I had to vote today I wouldn’t vote."
Governing is hard. But convincing people who dislike politics to get motivated about an election is even harder.
In any case, the poll confirms what we have been saying for some time. Expect a close election. If this story and the quoted individual is any gauge, it's one Democrats can win, but there's work to be done to get there.
NY Times notices Romney's tone-deaf elitism:
Just three days ahead of the South Carolina primary, Mr. Romney’s opponents on Wednesday vigorously exploited uncertainty about his finances by demanding that he release his tax returns before their party picks a nominee, while Democrats, previewing likely attacks in a general election campaign, accused Mr. Romney of having something to hide. The matter is also leading to more scrutiny of his tax proposals.
“We can’t fire our nominee in September,” Gov. Rick Perry of Texas said on Wednesday on “Fox and Friends.” “If we’ve got a flawed candidate going forward who’s going to get eaten alive either because of business practices or because of the taxes and the system that’s set up, we need to talk about it now.”
In any case, feel the Newtmentum:
The real reason we wanted to run against Santorum? He's an awful candidate. Alas, we won't get the chance. Santorum's support is mostly going to Newt, so now there's a race (one that I believe an unpopular Romney will win, but still a race.) Anyone still think Iowa picks presidents?
Pew:
Unpopular Nationally, Romney Holds Solid GOP Lead
Days ahead of the South Carolina primary, Mitt Romney maintains a substantial lead nationally in the race for the GOP nomination. Yet his image among all voters has slipped since November and he runs no better in a general election matchup with Barack Obama than he did then, despite his advantage as the “electable” Republican candidate.
PPP:
PPP's 3rd annual TV news trust poll (2011 version here, 2010 version here) finds that Fox News tops the list for both the source Americans trust the most and the one they trust the least...
Democrats (53-17 over Comedy Central) and independents (44-13 over Comedy Central) both overwhelmingly say Fox is their least trusted news source. Republicans go for MSNBC by a 28-23 margin over CNN, followed by Comedy Central at 18% and ABC News at 10%.
NY Times:
Protests on Wednesday quickly cut into support for two Internet piracy bills as two Republican senators said they would no longer back the legislation they co-sponsored.
Well-organized protests can work.
Gallup:
Nearly half of U.S. adults, 49%, say their finances are worse than a year ago, a rate that is among the highest in four decades. At the same time, 56% predict improvement in their finances, creating a mixed picture of Americans' financial mood.
CBS/NY Times poll:
CBS News/New York Times Poll
From the Fix:
Here’s a look at search traffic for the candidates (and Colbert) among South Carolinians:
How dare you make a mockery of campaign finance laws that Republicans are making a mockery of.