Poll Suggests Obama Has Clear Edge over Romney

Obama's approval ratings might not be too high, but he's seen as more capable of handling terrorism, international relations, and protecting the middle class.

Mitt Romney inched closer to claiming the Republican presidential nomination by winning the Nevada caucuses on Saturday. While Newt Gingrich promises to fight this one out to the convention floor, come Super Tuesday on March 6, that could very well change. But even with his nomination looking more and more like a certainty, Romney still faces the much bigger challenge of taking on Barack Obama, who is leading Romney in nearly every way you look at it, according to a new Washington Post poll. The poll, released today, asked 1,000 respondents whether they'd vote for Obama or Romney and Obama or Gingrich. Obama claimed 54 per cent to Gingrich's 43 per cent, and while Romney performed slightly better than the former House speaker, Obama still topped him 51 per cent to 46 per cent. Obama also led Romney in respondents' faith in them to fight terrorism, protect the middle class, handle international affairs, and handle taxes, while Romney had the edge in handling the economy and dealing with the deficit.

When asked who they thought better understood the economic problems facing average Americans, respondents answered with Obama 52 per cent of the time, compared to just 37 per cent of those saying Romney. All of this comes in spite of Obama's rather low approval ratings. While 50 per cent of respondents approved of the job Obama has done so far, on individual matters, from the economy to taxes to creating jobs to dealing with the deficit, respondents made it clear that Obama hasn't won them over yet. All of this positions Romney to hammer Obama over his handling of the economy (think 1992's "it's the economy, stupid") but with more and more jobs being created each month and unemployment at its lowest point since Obama took office, the narrative about the president being a poor manager of the economy could soon come to an end.