During the 2012 election, one of the perceived advantages President Obama held over Mitt Romney was the president’s seemingly firm grasp of foreign policy issues. During the summer months of the campaign, fully 47% of voters felt President Obama was better equipped to handle foreign affairs issues compared to 32% for Romney according to a July 2012 NBC/WSJ poll.
This positive sentiment was not unwarranted – the president was coming off a laundry list of notable achievements including the killing of Osama bin Laden, the intervention in Libya, ending US military engagement in Iraq, successful targeted attacks against al-Qaeda, and promoting the spread of democracy during the Arab Spring.
However, at the dawn of his second term, this sentiment is transforming with the emergence of a new set of challenges and threats extending outside our boarders. [cont.]
Paul Donaldson, Public Opinion Strategies