For Republican strategists wondering why You didnt build that wasnt enough to push Mitt Romney into a lead while 47 percent is breaking through, Haley Barbour may have answer for you.
Barbours firm Resurgent Republic conducted focus groups of blue collar voters in Ohio and suburban women in Virginia who supported Obama in 2008 but are now undecided. Both are swing demographics that Romney is working to win over in order to flip each state from blue to red.
Their findings? Voters are a lot more willing to believe attacks based around Romney quotes than they are on Obama quotes.
Whenever we showed direct quotes from President Obama over the last few years, voters consistently say that this is probably taken out of context and they dont seem to hold that same standard with Governor Romney, pollster Linda DiVall, who conducted the Virginia focus groups, said in a conference call announcing the findings Monday.
She added that while their reaction struck her as a little bit unfair, it was nonetheless American voters right to do that."
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For one thing, while participants were negative on the state of the economy, many suggested that Obama needed more time before being judged given the extent of the 2008 collapse. Goeas also noticed that among Ohio blue collar voters, many expressed general optimism on the future. And while Obama didnt seem to get too much credit from any group for his individual jobs policies or for his health care law, voters were bullish on the auto bailout not only in auto-heavy Ohio, but northern Virginia as well.
