With less than two months until the 2012 presidential election, new polls suggest that Mitt Romney is in a deeper hole than he thought.
In late August, Mitt Romney found himself running neck and neck with President Obama and in some polls, was even in the lead. With some confidence, the Republicans held their convention in the swing state of Florida and put on three days of underwhelming promotion. The next week in North Carolina, the Democrats held their convention and changed the course of the election. After an attack in Libya left four Americans dead, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, Mitt Romney attempted to seize the opportunity to make President Obama look weak. It backfired.
Speaking too soon and without the facts, Romney came across as someone who was too quick and jumped the gun. Needing to change course, the Romney campaign put the focus back on the economy, but then the magazine "Mother Jones" released the video that could be the straw that broke the Romney campaign's back. In a video filmed by Jimmy Carter's grandson, Mitt Romney was caught telling a group of Republican donors that 47% of Americans rely solely on the government and that they would stick with President Obama no matter what.
With all the negative press piling up, Mitt Romney and his standing with the American people is starting to fall. According to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, President Obama is leading Mitt Romney by five points nationally, holding a 48% to 43% lead. A NBC/Wall Street Journal poll shows that President Obama is holding a five point lead in the key swing states of Florida and Ohio and has a seven point edge in Virginia.
The area where Mitt Romney needs gain is with Hispanic voters. According to a new poll released by Latino Decisions, Romney is trailing the president 68% to 26%, a 42 point margin that could doom the former CEO of Bain Capital's chances in November. In an attempt to chip away at the president's lead, Romney gave a speech at the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Los Angeles, but the result was underwhelming.
While the Republican party is often viewed as strong on foreign policy, they are having a hard time getting ahead of the president considering his massive foreign policy successes. The Pew Research Center released a new poll this week asking the American people what they thought about Mitt Romney's speech following the attacks in Libya where he was quick to criticize the Obama administration. With only 26% of Americans supporting Romney's speech, the overall reaction was negative. Nearly half of the American people, 48%, disapproved of Romney's reaction while 26% gave no opinion.
Election day is right around the corner and with the economy still in a slow recovery, Mitt Romney should be in the lead. The president is doing what he should, highlighting the positives and masking the negatives. With Mitt Romney unable to capitalize and continuing to shoot himself in the foot, the Republican party might have to deal with four more years of the Obama family living at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.