Much has been said about the stream of seemingly endless lies coming from Mitt Romney and his campaign. If you look at left-leaning media or forums, it would seem that this race should be a blowout. But week after week, Mitt Romney continues to gain ground on the President. His mistruths, deceptions, reversals and flat out pandering seem to be gaining ground.
But are they really?
In one recent poll, only 57% of Romney voters actually support Mitt Romney. A full 39% of the people voting for Romney are actually casting their ballot against the President. Granted, that number has decreased since the debates, but it's a very strong indicator of where Romney the president would actually stand.
If the numbers remain the same, a Romney presidency would essentially start from a 30% approval rating - the 50% of the country that votes for Obama clearly disapproves of Romney, and the 40% that are actually casting their ballots against the President instead of for their own candidate don't even approve of Romney enough to say so to a pollster.
It wouldn't take long for that number to decrease dramatically. Romney has positioned himself in a very precarious spot along the fence. Take the issue of a woman's right to choose, for example. Throughout the primaries, he's said he supports the repeal of Roe v. Wade. Now he, and his surrogates are trying to soften that position. This leaves Romney in a lose-lose position. If elected, and he fails to repeal Roe vs. Wade, the support from the far right that he currently enjoys pre-election will of course erupt as they always do. But moreover, if he does manage to repeal a woman's right to choose, or worse, get a constitutional amendment banning abortion passed, the much touted gender gap will be big enough to build an abortion clinic inside it.
And while Romney's religion may not have played a role in his election, other than the absence of opposition to it on the evangelical right, you can bet that the bible thumpers will jump ship at the first sign of a mormon influence in the White House. If there's anything the many christian denominations throughout the US can agree on, it's that mormonism is a cult.
So it's possible that the Romney campaign might be able to snag the White House with lies, mistruths, and deception, but if they do it comes at a price. A President Romney could very well end up with the lowest approval rating in U.S. history.
