A new Gallup poll released today shows supporters of Mitt Romney less optimistic about the former Massachusetts governor’s chances than President Obama’s — even though the two are in a dead heat in the polls.
The latest Real Clear Politics national polling average has Obama up 1.1 points over Romney. The latest Gallup Tracking poll put Romney up by one point over Obama.
Asked to be as objective as possible regardless of which candidate those surveyed support, 58 percent said Obama would win and 36 percent picked Romney.
That’s virtually unchanged in the three months of heated campaigning since the poll was last conducted in May. In that survey, 56 percent said Obama would win and 36 percent opted for Romney.
In this month’s poll, 86 percent of Obama supporters said the president would win while 65 percent of Romney supporters had faith in their candidate to win. Out of those identifying as independents, 58 percent chose Obama as the winner and 35 percent predicted a Romney win.
When asked about the quality of the presidential candidates, 12 percent thought both Obama and Romney would be good presidents while 17 percent believe neither will. Among independents, the “neither” answer peaked at 24 percent.
“Americans’ prediction of who will win is significant since they have generally been correct in predicting the winner of past presidential elections,” Gallup noted.
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