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Americans don’t believe GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney hit a home run with his choice of Paul Ryan as a running mate, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, with more of the public giving him lower marks than high ones.
Ryan, a Wisconsin congressman, is seen as only a “fair” or “poor” choice by 42% of Americans vs. 39% who think he is an “excellent” or “pretty good” vice presidential choice.
USA TODAY/Gallup polls of registered voters after the announcements of running mates since Dick Cheney in 2000 all showed more positive reactions. Only Dan Quayle in a 1988 Harris Poll of likely voters was viewed less positively than Ryan, with 52% rating Quayle as a “fair” or “poor” vice presidential choice. The Ryan poll includes all adults, not just registered voters.
In other words, Romney has just chosen a running mate with deeply unpopular views to shore up support among a conservative base that, were it less fanatical, would have been shored up already. In so doing, he has forfeited perhaps his best chance to introduce himself anew to the constituencies that distrust him and his party, and he has teed up exactly the budgetary debate that Obama wanted. In 1996 the Clinton campaign worked relentlessly to tie Bob Dole to Newt Gingrich because of Gingrich’s association with slashing middle-class entitlements. Now Romney has done the equivalent of putting Gingrich on the ticket.
But it gets worse. Increasingly Romney looks like a man who can be rolled. He’s changed his mind on abortion and gay rights. He’s largely unwilling to defend the health-care law that was the centerpiece of his governorship. He went to Jerusalem and, with right-wing sugar daddy Sheldon Adelson looking on, refused to defend his own stated position in support of a Palestinian state. And now he chooses a running mate who was widely considered too extreme to put on the ticket until right-wing pundits launched an unprecedented public pressure campaign to make Romney do just that.
Democracy Corps (July 16 2012) :
President Obama’s lead against Romney more than doubles when the election is framed as a choice between the two candidates’ positions on the Ryan budget– particularly its impact on the most vulnerable. The President makes significant gains among key groups, including independents and voters in the Rising American Electorate (the unmarried women, youth, and minority voters who drove Obama to victory in 2008). This is an important new finding; highlighting the Ryan budget’s impact on the most vulnerable seriously weakens Romney.
Key Findings:
• The Ryan budget is a big target. Even described using Ryan’s own words, support for the budget barely gets majority support.
• Mitt Romney’s embrace of the Ryan budget erodes his support in a close race. Romney’s full-fledged support of the Ryan budget opens him up to attacks on big, decisive issues.
• Voters respond equally to three big critiques of the Ryan budget.Voters reject Ryan’s plan to allow the refundable child tax credit to expire, which would push the families of 2 million children back into poverty. Second, voters are deeply concerned about Ryan’s plan for Medicare and health care spending for seniors. Finally, voters strongly disapprove of cuts to education spending. These three facts about the Ryan budget are the most concerning to voters, especially unmarried women and Hispanic voters.
• Concern for the most vulnerable has a ballot box impact. After hearing balanced facts about the Ryan budget and messages on both sides, we asked voters to weigh the two Presidential candidates based on their positions on the Ryan budget and its impact on the most vulnerable. Not only does focusing on the most vulnerable not hurt the President, it helps him – Obama’s margin widens to 9 points, with his vote climbing above 50 percent.
• Obama’s base consolidates against the Ryan budget. The Rising American Electorate (youth, minorities and unmarried women) who swept Obama into office move sharply against Romney in this survey, especially unmarried women, who shift a net 10 points.
• Hispanics value education above all. While the expiration of the child tax credit is unnerving to this key bloc, Hispanic voters are most concerned by the budget’s proposal to cut funding for education.
• Voters take a moral approach to evaluating the proposed cuts in the Ryan budget. The most compelling arguments in both focus groups and on this survey were those framed by moral concerns for the most vulnerable. This poses a real opportunity for Democrats to expose the Ryan budget in a way that is compelling for independents and undecided voters.
• The upcoming debate about whether to extend the refundable child tax credit is an opportunity for those who support it. This memo outlines the strongest attacks against allowing the benefit to expire and the strongest messages to support it.
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