Wall Street Journal: Romney Was a Weak Candidate

[deacon blues]

I wasn't voting for Romney because I wanted the GOP to win simply to win. I was voting for Romney because he was more conservative than Obama. I made that clear. I didn't vote for Romney in the primaries. I had originally been a Bachmann supporter, then Cain, then settled on Santorum when it came time to vote. I loved Newt in the debates but felt his baggage was too difficult to win a general election. Obviously with hindsight, if we were going to lose anyway, it would've been fun to see Newt go toe to toe with Obama.

Anyway here's an encouraging op/Ed by the director of Pew Research in the WSJ.

By ANDREW KOHUT

Postelection talk of "lessons learned" is often exaggerated and misleading, and so it is in 2012.

A week after President Obama won re-election, two themes are dominant. First, that Mr. Obama kept his job because key elements of his base—notably young people, African-Americans, Latinos and Asian-Americans—turned out for him. Second, that the growing size of these voting blocs represents a decisive challenge for the Republican Party.

Both points are true, but most observers are overstating the gravity of the GOP's problem. In particular, they are paying too little attention to how weak a candidate Mitt Romney was, and how much that hurt Republican prospects.

Here is what the exit poll found. Mr. Romney's personal image took a hard hit during the primary campaign and remained weak on election day. Just 47% of exit-poll respondents viewed him favorably, compared with 53% for Mr. Obama. Throughout the campaign, Mr. Romney's favorable ratings were among the lowest recorded for a presidential candidate in the modern era. A persistent problem was doubt about his empathy with the average voter. By 53% to 43%, exit-poll respondents said that Mr. Obama was more in touch than Mr. Romney with people like themselves.

Mr. Romney was never fully embraced by Republicans themselves, which may have inhibited the expected strong Republican turnout. Pew's election-weekend survey found Mr. Romney with fewer strong supporters (33%) than Mr. Obama (39%). Similarly, a much greater percentage of Obama supporters (80%) than Romney supporters (60%) told Pew that they were voting for their candidate rather than against his opponent.

Surprisingly, Mr. Romney proved unable to exploit Mr. Obama's biggest weakness: the economy. Seventy-six percent of exit-poll respondents rated the national economy "poor" or only "fair," and just 25% said their finances were better off than they were four years ago. Yet voters expressed roughly equal confidence in Mr. Obama's ability to handle the economy (48%) as in Mr. Romney's (49%).

Mr. Romney was hurt by the perception—reinforced by Democratic attack ads and his secretly recorded comments about the "47%"—that he wasn't for the average voter. With 55% of voters in the exit poll saying they think the U.S. economic system favors the wealthy, a large majority believed that Mr. Obama's policies favor the middle class (44%) or the poor (31%). By contrast, 53% thought Mr. Romney's policies would favor the rich.

Despite their weak candidate, Republicans increased their share of the presidential vote among many major demographic groups. Compared with 2008, they made significant gains among men (four percentage points), whites (four points), younger voters (six points), white Catholics (seven points) and Jews (nine points). Mr. Romney also carried the independent vote 50% to 45%. Four years ago, independents voted for Mr. Obama 52% to 44%.

Republicans can take some solace from these gains. In addition, only 43% of voters this year said they wanted an activist government (compared with 52% in 2008), and 49% continued to disapprove of Mr. Obama's health-care law (compared with 44% approving).

In short, the current American electorate is hardly stacked against the Republican Party. But Republicans should recognize that, on balance, Americans remain moderate—holding a mix of liberal and conservative views. They generally believe that small government is better and that ObamaCare is bad. But the exit poll shows that 59% believe abortion should be legal, 65% support a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, and a surprising plurality support legalizing same-sex marriage in their states.

Threading the ideological needle with this electorate is vital for the Republicans in the future—and for the Democrats, too.

— Mr. Kohut is president of the Pew Research Center.
A version of this article appeared November 14, 2012, on page A15 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Misreading Election 2012.

[Pressing-On]

I am very glad that Bachmann won her re-election.

And, YES, it would have been history in the making for Gingrich to come up against Obama. It would have been classic!

I think the RNC ganged up against Newt, because they would have had to eat crow after the false ethic charges they threw at him when he was Speaker. He was cleared of all. Can you imagine their chagrin to find out he would then be their President? They were having none of that.

[deacon blues]

Somehow in had a feeling you'd be the first to respond PO...lol

[Pressing-On]

Originally Posted by deacon blues

Somehow in had a feeling you'd be the first to respond PO...lol

[RandyWayne]

When Cain dropped out, so did 75% of my enthusiasm. I "liked" Santorum personally but felt he was far too inexperienced fiscally. His stating that he wanted to triple the earned income tax credit made me want to throw up.

[Pressing-On]

This is being passed around.


I'm passing this on because it worked for me today.

A doctor on TV said that in order to have inner peace in our lives after this election, we should always finish things that we start. Since we all could use more calm in our lives, I looked around my house to find things I'd started & hadn't finished.

I finished a bottle of Merlot, a bottle of Chardonnay, a bodle of Baileys, a butle of wum, tha mainder of Valiuminun scriptins, an a box a choclutz. Yu has no idr how fablus I feel rite now.

Sned this to all ur frenz who need inner pi. An telum u luvum.

Bye.

[Pressing-On]

Originally Posted by RandyWayne

When Cain dropped out, so did 75% of my enthusiasm. I "liked" Santorum personally but felt he was far too inexperienced fiscally. His stating that he wanted to triple the earned income tax credit made me want to throw up.

After Newt was out and watching Romney throughout, I pretty much hated his guts.

Romney breaks silence in bitter broadside at Obama

"But frankly we're still so troubled by the past, it's hard to put together our plans for the future," the defeated candidate said.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stori...237326/1/.html

He fails to focus on how he lost the youth vote by dissing the Ron Paul people during the primaries and at Convention. Wonder when anyone save Lou Dobbs will mention it?

[Pressing-On]

I am glad someone is being sensible in their assessment of this election - Gov. Bobby Jindal.

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal rejects Republican Mitt Romney's gift theory on defeat

Jindal rejected such an explanation of Romney's defeat. "No, I think that's absolutely wrong. Two points on that: One, we have got to stop dividing the American voters. We need to go after 100 per cent of the votes, not 53 per cent. We need to go after every single vote," he told reporters at a news conference of Republican Governors Association (RGA) in Las Vegas on Wednesday. Jindal is incoming chairman of RGA.

"Secondly, we need to continue to show how our policies help every voter out there achieve the American Dream, which is to be in the middle class, which is to be able to give their children an opportunity to be able to get a great education. So, I absolutely reject that notion, that description. I think that's absolutely wrong," he said.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...w/17233667.cms

[Jermyn Davidson]

Yeah, I enjoyed reading Jinda;'s response to a whiny romney.

He lost. It wasn't God's Will for him to win. He should help the current President or fade into oblivion.

[Originalist]

Originally Posted by Pressing-On

I am glad someone is being sensible in their assessment of this election - Gov. Bobby Jindal.

Gov. Bobby does not seem to understand that it is LIBERALS who divide the voters!! THAT is the point!! Romney was speaking the truth.