In the latest Gallup poll for the 2012 presidential election, Barack Obama held a five percentage point lead on Mitt Romney three days prior to the debate. Now the race appears to be dead even, according to Gallup data.
“This Sept. 30-Oct. 6 field period includes three days before the Oct. 3 debate, the night of the debate itself, and three days after the debate,” reports Gallup. “Registered voters’ preferences for president are evenly split in the first three days of Gallup tracking since last Wednesday’s presidential debate.”
“Those who viewed the debate overwhelmingly believe Romney did a better job than Obama, 72% to 20%,” adds Gallup.
What are we to make of these numbers? As Gallup notes, the bump was the product of the perception that Romney “won” the debate. The poll, of course, doesn’t factor into Romney’s facility with charming, energetic and confident lies.
Take the “$5 trillion dollar tax” cut meme Obama launched against Romney over and over in the debate. The Tax Policy Center states that Romney’s tax cuts would amount to $5 trillion over a decade, adding to the deficit. Romney denies this, stating that he would close tax loopholes, including on high income earners, thus preventing any additions to deficit. That is all well and good, but Romney provided absolutely no details in the debate on how he would do this in the debate. Americans cheered.
Another big lie dealt with the question of Romney’s plan for those with pre-existing conditions. Under Obamacare, the federal government does not allow insurance companies to deny Americans coverage for pre-existing conditions. One of Romney’s top advisors, Eric Fehrnstrom, even acknowledged that under Romney’s plan, those without insurance would have to depend on state laws prohibiting pre-existing condition discrimination. Truth: states may or may not implement such laws, and for those states that decide not to, those with pre-existing conditions would be shit out of luck.
If these new Gallup polls prove anything, it is that Americans admire charm and confidence over real substantive ideas.
[Photo: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images]
