New Poll Shows Obama’s Lead Growing Against Romney

President Barack Obama’s poll lead against Republican nominee Mitt Romney has widened to 7 percentage points in a Reuters/Ipsos poll of likely voters on Thursday, just the latest poll showing the Democratic incumbent ahead less than two months before the November 6 election.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll is a daily online poll asking 990 likely voters over the past four days which candidate they would vote for if the election took place that day, reports The Huffington Post.

Thursday’s results showed that 48 percent would pick Obama while 41 percent picked Romney. The gap has been widening over the past few days since Obama initially grabbed the lead on September 7 by taking 46 percent of likely voters versus Romney’s 44 percent following the Democratic National Convention. Ipsos pollster Julia Clark stated:

“What that really means is that Obama is in good shape.”

The online poll also showed that more registered voters preferred Obama’s policies and approach on taxes, healthcare, and social security when compared to his Republican challenger. When they were asked who had a better plan, policy, or approach to the war on terrorism, registered voters picked Obama 39 percent to Romney’s 25 percent.

Voice of America notes that, while the economy is still the focal point of the election, foreign policy has also come in to play in the past few days after the attacks on US embassies in Egypt, Libya, and Yemen. Republican nominee Mitt Romney condemned the Obama administration’s handling of the attack in Egypt, saying that their statement showed weakness.

President Obama responded by saying that Romney’s criticism showed a “tendency to shoot first and aim later.” Romney’s comments drew criticism of Democrats and Republicans, who questioned his wisdom in critiquing the handling of a foreign policy issue while it was unfolding.

Many analysts and supporters are urging Romney to refocus his efforts on the economy, which could be his strongest argument in his attempt to defeat President Obama in November. Political analyst Rhodes Cook stated:

“I think there is a sense of trying to get the race back to where it was before the conventions. The economy is his big issue, so to go after Obama on this or to break ground on how you handle a foreign policy crisis is risky.”

What do you think of the latest poll putting Obama even farther ahead of Romney in the polls?