What is the Romney campaign trying to accomplish here? Are they really still playing to their base? [View all]
from Greg Sargent at WaPo's Plum Line: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/who-is-the-intended-audience-here/2012/09/12/88417aaa-fcfe-11e1-b153-218509a954e1_blog.html
I continue to wonder: Who are the voters that the Romney campaign sees as their intended audience for this stuff? A reasonably good way to measure whether people are open to the idea that Obama is secretly sympathetic with America’s enemies might be his ratings when it comes to handling terrorism.
On this front, as Post polling guru Peyton Craighill notes, the current state of play represents a dramatic shift in the political landscape from previous campaigns. Both John McCain and George W. Bush held wide advantages on terrorism in the last two presidential races. That is now reversed — in favor of a Democrat. The new Washington Post poll finds that Obama holds a wide lead among registered voters of 51-40. Independents pick Obama by 46-42. The gap is even wider among moderates, at 55-33.
The only groups that favor Romney over Obama on terrorism are Republicans (74-13) and conservatives (65-24). So it stands to reason that most of the true undecided voters who remain probably favor Obama on terrorism. What will they think when they hear Romney tell them that the Obama administration sympathized with attacks on Americans? My bet is that it doesn’t end up resonating with their perceptions at all.
What is the Romney campaign trying to accomplish here? Is this all about letting the base know that Romney isn’t afraid to “get tough” with Obama? If so, why is Romney still playing to the base? Or does the Romney camp believe there is a small segment of true undecided voters who — after living with Obama as president for four years — still are open to doubting Obama’s intentions and sympathies towards America?
read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/who-is-the-intended-audience-here/2012/09/12/88417aaa-fcfe-11e1-b153-218509a954e1_blog.html
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