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Jason Reed / Reuters
President Barack Obama campaigns at McArthur High School in Hollywood, Fla. on Nov. 4, 2012.
With just two days until Election Day, President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney are running neck and neck nationally, according to the final national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll before the election.
Obama gets support from 48 percent of likely voters, while Romney gets 47 percent.
Read the full poll here (.pdf)
A new NBC poll should give both presidential campaigns reason to hope. Obama comes in at 48 percent; Romney at 47 percent. Taking Sandy into account, 80 percent in the Northeast said they approved of the president's handling of Superstorm Sandy. NBC's Chuck Todd reports.
In the NBC/WSJ poll released two weeks ago, the two candidates were deadlocked at 47 percent each.
“This poll is reflecting a very, very close campaign nationally,” says Republican pollster Bill McInturff, who conducted this survey with Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart.
“It’s a dead heat,” Hart adds. “This election is going to be decided by turnout, turnout, turnout.”
While both Obama and Romney are running virtually even in this national poll, a majority of surveys from the battleground states – especially in the crucial battlegrounds of Iowa, Ohio and Wisconsin – show the president with a slight advantage.
A new NBC poll indicates the presidential race is in a dead heat. Meanwhile, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie may have given Obama a boost when he praised his leadership. NBC's Andrea Mitchell and David Gregory have more.
Good news for Obama: Two-thirds approve of hurricane handling
The NBC/WSJ poll – conducted Nov. 1-3 – contains good news for both Obama and Romney in the final days of the campaign.
For Obama, 41 percent of likely voters say that what they have read, heard, and seen over the past couple of weeks have given them a more favorable impression of president, compared to 40 percent who said it had given them a less favorable impression – which is up from his 38-to-43 percent score on this question two weeks ago.
Read our memo on our 'likely voter' methodology (.pdf)
Both presidential candidates have spent months fighting over nine battleground states, but as the race draws to a close the Romney campaign is trying to expand the battlefield to states that have been reliably blue in recent years. Is this opportunity or desperation? DNC Executive Director Patrick Gaspard discusses.
Part of that more favorable impression is due to his handling of Hurricane Sandy, of which 67 percent of likely voters approve.
By comparison, 45 percent of voters say they have say they have a less favorable impression of Romney from what they have read, heard and seen over the past couple of weeks, versus 40 percent who have a more favorable view.
Yet two weeks ago – fresh off his debate performances – Romney’s score here was tied, 44 percent more favorable, and 44 percent less favorable.
In the latest NBC News/ WSJ poll President Barack Obama has an eight point lead among women, however Mitt Romney has an seven point lead among men. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., joins NBC's Andrea Mitchell to talk about the gender gap.
Comparing 2012 to 2004
In addition, Obama’s numbers in this poll look almost identical to George W. Bush’s in the final NBC/WSJ before the 2004 presidential election, which Bush ended up winning 51 percent to 48 percent.
Obama’s approval rating among likely voters stands at 49 percent – exactly matching Bush’s 49 percent approval in the final 2004 NBC/WSJ poll.
Forty-two percent say the country is headed in the right direction, versus 41 percent who said the same thing in late Oct. 2004.
And the head-to-head score between Obama and Romney – 48 percent to 47 percent – is identical to what it was in the final NBC/WSJ poll before the 2004 election: Bush 48 percent, Democrat John Kerry 47 percent.
“The comparisons between 2004 and 2012 are haunting,” McInturff says.
Good news for Romney: Comfort level, the economy
The good news for Romney in this national poll is that 53 percent of likely voters are comfortable with the idea of him as president, which ties Obama’s percentage on this question (although 39 percent are “very comfortable” with Obama versus 26 percent who are “very comfortable” with Romney).
Also, Romney is ahead of Obama among independents, 47 percent to 40 percent.
And the former Massachusetts governor leads Obama by five points on which candidate is better prepared to create jobs and grow the economy, 47 percent to 42 percent.
However, a majority of voters in the survey – 52 percent – say the economy is recovering.
The NBC/WSJ poll was conducted Nov. 1-3 of 1,475 likely voters (including 443 cell phone-only respondents), and it has a margin of error of plus-minus 2.55 percentage points.
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Start crying now msnbc, the annointed one is about to be kicked off his throne...VOTE ROMNEY, be part of history, end this failed regime before it buries your children's futures...
Obama seems to be losing his voice. FINALLY! I feel the same way as Caroline Kennedy: Obama is a liar and I can't stand to hear his voice anymore.
And yet, Caroline was at the democrat convention supporting Obama because she is such a committed Catholic that she goes against her church and supports abortion and birth control.
It appears by all polls and pundits, even Fox news, that Obama is going to win in a landslide. Ryan has decided to stay in Janesville to try to save his house seat. Obama is leading in all early voting. As the Donald would say, "Mitt your Fired!" What a loser Mitt turned out to be.
It is obvious now, that the main goal of the Republican party is to hand over to the corporate owners of this country, total control of the government. The owners already own practically everything, but they want government control too. Why? Because they know there is still plenty of money to be squeezed out of the middle class and the poor. It would be "bad business" to pass that up. That's why Wall Street and the other big money players want Romney to be their puppet. That's why they are scrambling to throw billions of dollars into ads full of lies and distortions.
And by the way, the Libertarians would hand over control to corporate interests too.
Man the conservatives are out in droves today aren't they!
Pleasures me to watch them squirm as we witness the last remnants of the rich white man's hand being slowly pried from the levers of power in this country. I know it scares you GOP sheep to see Willard about to lose. To that the only thing I can say is grab your guns and bibles, have a seat in your bark-a-lounger, open a bud and shhhh....it'll all be over soon.
Shhh.....
How much do you get paid an hour I hope its enough to make you and your family live comfortable, there are so many of us out there who do not. The powerful rich are you kidding me can a not so rich man pay a decent wage a wage that can sustain a family with more then just enough to survive, I would like to do more then just survive I would like to actually live.
GotTruth?
Your an idiot. No wonder there is a question mark after you name.
Your wacky poll has 49% of people that voted for Obama before and only 39% voting for McCain. Seems to me that Romney has a big lead....
Haley Barbour was blaming the hurricane and Cristy for Mitt's upcoming loss. Typical republican, blame others.
2012 Thanksgiving Turkey of the Year goes to...Mitt Romney for blowing $1,000,000,000.00 of the Koch brothers money. Your lose Koch Brothers, don't let the door hit you in the ____as you leave. Take your turkey with you.
Yeah, 50/50 it's been like that since the year 1820, even if you had big bird and bart simpson as candidates it would still be that way. The vote get's decided by a bit of frigging of the votes in a few critical states and the deciding factor is which side has the best placed buddies in any given generation.
I have voted as my son also has for our President, we feel that there can only be one choice here that is clear. Other posters have already enumerated the reasons to discount Romney and to support our President. Fear and loathing from the right show deep seated bigotry and greed, hardly attributes I want to be associated with yet they are powerful enough in the USA to impact the very foundations of our democratic republic. For many, freedom translates into anarchy with every man for his self and to heck with the other person, where a sense of fair play is viewed as a weakness to our society rather than a strength. We have become a nation that tolerates and even rewards lies and deception, where cynicism prevails and common sense is thrown out the window. We have become a nation divided as power flows from the people to corporate dominion and rule by plutocracy.
I believe that as the 300 Spartans fought against the forces of evil and deception, democrats will be empowered to defeat the avaricious and hedonistic extremist of the republican party.
There is a clear choice and it is to continue with Pres. Obama.
Row, row, row the boat,merrily, merrily,merrily, life is but a dream.........
Gov. Romney.....they say loose lips sink ship.....>>>>>>"COMBO">>>>.....
Binders full of lies..........say "FORWARD" in this election......
OBAMA/BIDEN 2012
A vote for Romney is a vote for wealthy corporate America. They like things as they are. They are getting richer as the middle and lower classes will be stuck picking up the tab( national debt).
A vote for Obama is a vote for the middle class and the lower class. He wants to raise taxes on the wealthy, the people who have prospered the last 20 years while everyone else has seen their wages cut. Let's face it, they can afford to pay more taxes and from what I've seen these so called job creators haven't created jobs that can support our economy, but they do in other countries.( China, Mexico, Etc.)
America has already implemented it's own austerity measure, it's called the Republican party. Get rid of the teabaggers and vote with a clear conscious.
Vote Obama
Let me guess, your one of the leeching 47%
No 1987 that would be you
Nope, never have been and never will. But let me guess again you are and are worried you might have to start PAYING YOUR FAIR SHARE next year.
Its called projection 1987 You assume others have the same shortcomings as you. BTW Why are you a tool for the 1%. Don't you realize you are being punked by the very rich. Your but a peasant/surf and you pay homage to the Koch brothers, your lord masters, yet they are taking advantage of you while they get rich. They are so far into your head that you even vote for their candidates. What a tool. Think for yourself someday.
I hear the Ted Nugent alert has been raised to red.
Ted Nugent is a coward who shoots animals and it makes him feel like a man. He is the ultimate nobody.
So, he's a coward for shooting animals? Where's that logic?
Because animals are defenseless and he does not just do it for the sport, he waxes nostalgic like it makes him superior to others, like he is the man because he shoots a deer with a high powered scoped rifle. Nobody but another coward would find Ted Nugent anything other than a coward and moron.
THERE will be RIOTS if Romney wins. NObama supporters and their free ride is over! LA riots will look like NOTHING compared to the chimpout that will happen.
Danny - Your babbling and making no sense. What is it your saying? Riots. Where, why???
So if the empty chair does find enough dead people to vote and wins re-election who's he going to blame the mess he inherited on this time?
The damage was great, you might want to research The Great Depression to get some ideal how great the mess Obama inherited was. Alot of the damage done by Bush and Cheney was probably deliberate in that they knew at a certain point thr Reps. would lose the next election so they enact an unfunded drug benefit for S.S. fight 2 wars that are not paid for and reduce taxes which really blew up the deficit. After all these misteps a democrat is elected with a shattered economy, huge deficits and problems that would make the U.S. look like a 3rd world country with the republicans trying to concept alot of the problems until Bush actually left the White House so you decide.
George Bush, Wall Street and the do nothing teabaggers. But once we get the economy back there will be no reason to blame them any more, Obama will have fixed the mess they created.
Obama's alleged slender lead can be arrested if his foreign policy is exposed. There is another potential danger looming large in the horizon. Obama has authorized joint military exercise with Egypt. After Morsi became president, several alarming changes have taken place. Like Khomeini’s Iran, the whole state has been Islamized. A constitution that codifies religious fascism was hurriedly written. Hundreds of convicted terrorists were released, turning Egypt into a haven for jihadist terrorism. The Muslim Brotherhood and its Salafist allies attacked embassies and US interests (KFC, Coco Cola etc.,) in the newly Islamic-dominated Middle East countries. Islamist protesters stormed the U.S. Embassy in Cairo destroyed the American flag, and replaced it with a black Islamist flag similar to the one used byAl-Qaeda — all on the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attack Obama has also appointed Muslim Brotherhood men in key and sensitive posts in Washington. . His lavish loan of billions of dollars to Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood when America itself is reeling under the heavy burden of loans is a matter for scrutiny. In a fiery speech Morsi said before an enthusiastic crowd that the motto of the Muslim Brotherhood is “The Koran is our constitution. The Prophet Muhammad is our leader. Jihad is our path. And death for the sake of Allah is our most lofty aspiration.” In the new geopolitical scenario. Egypt having intimate ties with Beijing and Moscow and with the emergence of a new axis in the Middle East – Tehran-Cairo-Baghdad-Damascus – it is suicidal for America to train Muslim Brotherhood forces in defensive and offensive operations. And yet, Obama has done this unpatriotic and treacherous act. Another term for Obama will embolden him to strengthen this alliance with Islamist Egypt which will be a great danger for America and Israel
Romney and Republicans further down the food chain for the first time began
imagining another four years of Democratic rule in the White House.
First, a handful of Republicans battling for election in close Senate races
in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Nevada publicly distanced themselves from Romney’s surreptitiously videotaped comments that “47 percent”
of Americans think of themselves as victims, pay no income taxes and are
dependent on government support. ”That’s not the way I view the world,” said
Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., who is struggling to fend off a challenge by Democrat
Elizabeth Warren.
Where would we all be if it were not for OUR Chucky Toad TELLING US what to believe and what the facts ARE, "ACCORDING TO THE TODD"
The man is a TOAD.
And so is RUPERT MURDOCH....only Rupert HAS MORE CASH.
As much as I dislike Obama, voting for Romney would be an even worse mistake.
We are faced with the choice of two bad candidated but Romney would be worse for all of America – even the 1%.
I think the polls are showing exactly that right now.
Most people hate Obama due to his politics or inherent racism but Romney represents the worst of all worlds... a return to Bush's interventionist policies, guaranteed wars with Iran and everyone else who he (or Israel) doesn't like.
Mammas better hug their sons (and daughters) because if Mittens becomes presendent an awful lot of them are going to die in useless wars around the globe to enrich the 1%.
The ten guiding principles of Romneyism are:
1. Corporations are the basic units of society. Corporations are people, and the overriding purpose of an economy is to maximize corporate profits. When profits are maximized, the economy grows fastest. This growth benefits everyone in the form greater output, better products and services, and higher share prices.
2. Workers are a means to the goal of maximizing corporate profits. If workers do not contribute to that goal, they should be fired. If they cannot then find other work that helps maximize profits in another company, their wages must be too high, and they must therefore accept steadily lower wages until they find a job.
3. All factors of production -- capital, physical plant and equipment, workers -- are fungible and should be treated the same. Any that fail to deliver high competitive returns should be replaced or discarded. This keeps an economy efficient. Fairness is and should be irrelevant.
4. Pollution, unsafe products, unsafe working conditions, financial fraud, and other negative side effects of the pursuit of profits are the price society pays for profit-driven growth. They should not be used as excuses to constrain the pursuit of profits through regulation.
5. Individual worth depends on net worth -- how much money one has made, and the value of the assets that money has been invested in. Any person with enough intelligence and ambition can make a fortune. Failure to do so is sign of moral and intellectual inferiority.
6. People who fail in the economy should not be coddled. They should not receive food stamps, Medicaid, or any other form of social subsidy. Coddling leads to a weaker society and a weaker economy.
7. Taxes are inherently bad because they constrain profit-making. It is the right and responsibility of individuals and corporations to exploit every tax loophole they (and their tax attorneys) can find in order to pay the lowest taxes possible.
8. Politics is a game whose only purpose is to win. Any means used to win the game is legitimate even if it involves lying and cheating, as long as it gains more supporters than it loses.
9. Democracy is dangerous because it is forever vulnerable to the votes of a majority intent on capturing the wealth of the successful minority, on whom the economy depends. The rich must therefore do whatever is necessary to prevent the majority from exercising its will, including spending large sums of money on lobbyists and political campaigns. The most virtuous among the rich will go a step further and run for president.
10. The three most important aspects of life are family, religion, and money. Patriotism is a matter of guarding our economy from unfair traders and undocumented immigrants, rather than joining together for the common good. We owe nothing to one another as citizens of the same society.
.
On Tuesday we'll decide whether these should be the guiding principles of America.
Once again, all this election tells me by the fact that it remains so close is that almost half of the American electorate are IDIOTS and don't pay attention - the fact that half the country doesn't have whiplash from watching Romney change sides, change positions, change faces is a medical miracle! I'm sorry to "go there"....but if they're not truly idiots, than they're racists because you can't look at the turnaround we've made in four years in jobs, manufacturing housing starts, respect from other countries, Bin Laden and most of Al Quaeda's leadership is no more, ....and on and on. The only promises not kept have been put on hold until the Teapubs can figure out whether country is more important than party ...or in their case actually, self-serving, narrow-minded ideology!
Well if you ask me the jobs
left a long time ago, way before this President came into office! So if you look
back the last ten years, not to mention, with a Republican President, and now a
right-wing neo-con country in the congress, that has done nothing for this
country in years, before 4 years ago, and a congress and your elected officials that are
republican, has not lifted one finger for this bad business, they have being
doing to this county! Said no to progress, didn't pay for their wars, didn't
have one bad word for their President "Bush, now, they continue to do the
same things they were doing 5 years ago! If all those tax breaks and
loop-holes, job creators were really creating jobs, then why did the economy collapse?
Before the President; and people are still believing those old men? Then when
the President came in office they tried running their little games they play! The
(congress) said less, blame this on "Obama, the people are not paying
attention they are "sooooo stupid,"
we can say anything, and that's what they did! They blame the bad economy on
this President, starting telling lies, race baiting, (by the way blamed it on
the President), when he ask "Congress, to let the "Bush tax cuts, expire,
and they whined it was the economy, and they didn't need to cut the taxes, or
let them expire, because it would help the economy, at the same time they were
working with their little interest, groups, continue outsourcing America, and
the people didn't know what to think? because they were not paying attention,
but some folks "was paying attention" a lot of votes were there, they seen it but, they were so busy keeping
the people at each other's throat, with their scheming saying they were not
going to lift one finger, they just couldn't work with a black guy, "such
mentally, disturb behavior, for the people that are trusting them to run this
country in a "just way! "So
the people liked" this President, he was going to work across the aisle,
but they said from day one what they was going to do, so really when you look
really hard, the economy was messed up a long time ago, it just got worst, now
getting better with the policies he put into place otherwise it could of been
worst, without the help of congress and their party it would not of gotten
better, so I do think the President's plan is working maybe not as fast as we
would like but things is better and they could have been worst! So that is
something to think about, take a history lesson before making your decision, I
think congress and their party is to blame for the last ten years of their work!
And should be held accountable, and it should show at the polls, now that's
justice! "The congress let it happened, has for years now, before the
President! The republican's plan is not working how is those tax breaks, and loop-holes,
been creating any jobs? in the last 10 years, with a controlled congress like
that and a Mitt Romney, they will lean up the rest up the jobs, this country!
People better not go for the OKY DOK! Vote this election, dem, rep, Indp vote
Who had control of congress the majority of the time in the last ten years.
Most of the past 10 years Congress was split. However, with the filibuster the minority party has been able to block legislation and appointments and frustrate any agenda. So what is your point teabagger. Mcconnell has used the filibusters more over the past 4 years than all other congresses combined. Next question Teabagger, who has held the Presidency most of the past 10 years??? Are you there Willie the teabagger?
. And then there has been his chronic, baldly dishonest defense of mathematically impossible budget proposals. He promised to cut income tax rates without exploding the deficit or tilting the tax code toward the rich — but he refused to say how he could bring that off. When challenged, he cited “studies” that he maintained proved him right. But the studies were a mix of rhetoric, unrealistic growth projections and more serious economics that actually proved him wrong.
This last is important — maybe the crux of the next four years. History has shown that it’s a lot easier to cut taxes than to reduce spending. Republican presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush promised to do both, managed to do only the first and (with plenty of help from Congress) greatly increased the national debt.
Now Mr. Romney promises to reduce income tax rates by one-fifth — for the rich, that means from 35 percent to 28 percent — and to raise defense spending while balancing the budget. To do so, he would reduce other spending — unspecified — and take away deductions — unspecified. One of the studies he cited, by Harvard economist Martin Feldstein, said Mr. Romney could make the tax math work by depriving every household earning $100,000 or more of all of its charitable deductions, mortgage-interest deductions and deductions for state and local income taxes. . . ."
.
VOTE O & JOE . . . WE KNOW WHERE THEY STAND!
Using a tax shelter called a CRUT (charitable remainder unitrust) that was held by the Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormons), Mitt Romney was able to pay zero taxes (legally) every single year from 1996 to 2009. Why did he stop in 2009? Because he would make public his 2010 tax return, that is why.This tax loophole was killed by Congress in 1997. However those including Romney that were already using it were allowed to continue it. The way it works, is that Romney makes a "charitable" contribution to the Church of Latter Day Saints and it goes into a trust. Since the trust is held by the church, the money is tax deferred. Any capital gains, are non taxed because of the charities status. Like an annuity, the donor gets a charitable tax deduction and an stream of cash payments. When Romney dies, the church accepts full ownership..
Bloomsberg's attorneys estimate as the Romneys have received these payments, the money that will potentially be left for charity has declined from at least $750,000 in 2001 to $421,203 at the end of 2011.....Romney has refused to answer any thing on this topic. His campaign puts out that it was all legal....Legal perhaps. Ethical for the president of the United States? Well, only if you want a crook running the country.... Imagine! Legally stealing from your church!."
What about Mitt's drug use, alcohol use, and homosexual affairs. Please elaborate.
America is an envy of the world. We have the best democracy other countries do not have. But, make no mistake, our freedom comes at a great price. For, even as we speak, outside forces like terrorist factions threaten our way of life. As such, we spend our national treasure and lives to defend and preserve our nation. It brings tears to our eyes when we citizens behave in a way that betrays and compromises our democratic principles. Allegations of election fraud and voter suppression should not be tolerated, because if we lose our basic right to vote, our democracy will be in peril.