Majority of Republicans Back Romney as Nominee, Poll Shows
Just before Mitt Romney was formally nominated as the GOP presidential nominee, a poll showed that 69 percent of Republicans are happy with his nomination. A somewhat larger number of Democrats are with President Barack Obama, but that may not worry Romney too much.
A CNN/ORC International poll was released Tuesday as the roll call at the Republican National Convention was about to begin, showing that nearly seven in 10 Republicans say that the former Massachusetts governor should be the GOP nominee.
While three in 10 Republicans say they would rather see their party choose someone other than Romney at the top of the ticket, only 17 percent of Democrats would like to have someone other than Obama as their party's standard-bearer, indicated the poll, conducted Aug. 22-23 with 473 registered voters who describe themselves as Republicans or independents who lean Republican, and 404 registered voters who describe themselves as Democrats or independents who lean Democratic.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
"Historically, that figure is not bad. In mid-August, 2008, more than four in ten Republicans said they would prefer someone other than John McCain as the Republican nominee," said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "Thirty-seven percent of Democrats said in August 2008, that they would prefer Hillary Clinton as their party's nominee."
Romney had a reason to smile, as he paraded former Obama supporters at the RNC 2012. Romney featured former Democratic Rep. Artur Davis of Alabama, who seconded Obama's nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Denver in 2008 but has now switched parties.
"We led with our hearts and our dreams that we could be more inclusive than America had ever been, and no candidate had ever spoken so beautifully," The Associated Press quoted Davis as telling the Republican convention. "But dreams meet daybreak."
Davis is not the only one. Several voters who backed Obama in 2008 are now disenchanted, and Romney has been making efforts to woo them. "Ask one more person to join us, who supported President Obama four years ago and didn't get the change they deserved," Romney was quoted as telling an audience in Chillicothe, Ohio, earlier this month.
A short video featuring some disillusioned Obama voters was shown at the convention Tuesday. "As the co-owner of a small business, I'm not supporting Barack Obama this time because I just don't see things getting better," said Debbie Smith of Iowa, one of those featured in the video.
While the threat of Hurricane Isaac forced convention planners to delay the start of activities by one day, the mood in the convention on Tuesday was festive.
"Mitt Romney is a good man. Mitt Romney is a smart man," former New Hampshire Governor John Sununu, a Romney adviser, stated in his nomination speech. "Mitt Romney knows how to fix the unfixable and to help people perform to their highest potential."
