Public Opinion Strategies conducted a set of special focus groups among Hispanic voters in Las Vegas, NV. Each group was conducted among 12 respondents for three hours, allowing us to use different projective techniques and a much deeper dive into opinions and beliefs than traditional focus groups. … For many [...] Read more »
Are We There Yet?
… The second inaugurals we remember bear witness to political realignment. The words of Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan, in particular, testify to the closing of one era and the opening of another. In 1936 and 1984, Roosevelt and Reagan each won big. Their triumphs consolidated political transformations that had been [...] Read more »
Romney’s Debate Win Doesn’t Make It 1980 Again
Mitt Romney’s winning performance in last week’s presidential debate has reinforced his campaign’s belief that this election parallels the one in 1980: In troubled times, Republicans inevitably defeat an unpopular Democratic president. While Romney gets to hit the reset button after President Barack Obama’s desultory display, he’d better not count [...] Read more »
Mitt Romney and Ronald Reagan: could 2012 be like 1980?
Whenever a presidential challenger is behind late in the campaign, the first words that come out are “Ronald Reagan”. The Reagan name isn’t uttered just because of the Reagan aura, but because Reagan supposedly came charging back from behind to win a campaign against an incumbent president – thanks to [...] Read more »
Exploding the Reagan 1980 Comeback Myth
After an Obama bounce prompted a wave of articles about Romney’s dwindling chances, Romney’s pollster Neil Newhouse published a memo detailing the case for a comeback. Perhaps the most striking element of the memo was the complete absence of polling data, but his strained reconceptualization of the 1980 race was [...] Read more »
No, 2012 is not 1980, part 973
Yesterday Romney campaign pollster Neil Newhouse penned a memo arguing that despite Obama’s convention bounce, Mitt Romney will be the next president, treating it as a given that Obama can’t possibly win reelection amid such a weak economy. Newhouse cited the 1980 election, arguing that Jimmy Carter was leading Ronald [...] Read more »
Economic ups and downs of the presidency
… Here is a look at how the stock market and unemployment rate during President Obama’s time in the White House stack up against recent incumbent presidents vying for a second term. [cont.] Karen Yourish and Laura Stanton, Washington Post Read more »