Franklin & Marshall College Poll of PA: Obama leads by six-points
Key Findings
The August 2012 Franklin & Marshall College Poll finds increasing voter interest in the
presidential election.
President Barack Obama continues to lead his Republican challenger Mitt
Romney, although his advantage is smaller than in June. The president enjoys significant
advantages over Romney in his personal popularity and most voters believe he better
understands their concerns. The president is also thought to be better prepared to handle the
presidency even though there is ambivalence about some of his major policy initiatives. In the
US Senate race, incumbent Democrat Bob Casey, Jr. leads the Republican challenger Tom Smith
by a wide margin, although many voters remain undecided at the moment.
The Presidential Election in Pennsylvania
President Obama has led Mitt Romney in every Franklin & Marshall College Poll since
August 2011 (see Figure 1). The president currently leads Romney among registered voters in
Pennsylvania 44% to 38% with 15% undecided. Allocating voters who lean to a candidate
produces a similar advantage for the president, 47% to 42%, but shows that 7% of voters are
truly undecided. President Obama leads in most regions of the state, including Philadelphia,
Allegheny County, the southwest and southeast, and he has comfortable leads among young
voters, non-whites and women (see Attachment A). Mitt Romney holds an advantage among
working-class whites.
President Obama’s re-election prospects in Pennsylvania today are quite similar to his
position in August 2008 (see Table 1). His personal favorability scores are a bit lower than in
2008, but Mitt Romney’s favorability scores are much lower than John McCain’s were at the
time. The president’s job performance scores are also much better than were President Bush’s in
2008...
https://edisk.fandm.edu/FLI/keystone/pdf/keyaug12_1.pdf
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