Latest Presidential Polls Offer Glimmers of Hope for Obama

Impact

As Republican challenger Mitt Romney closes the gap with President Obama both at the national level and in swing states, a new trend is starting to emerge that could bring glimmers of hope to the Obama campaign. 

A new Washington Post/ABC poll found that the percentage of likely and registered voters who think the country is headed in the right direction hit the 42% mark. This is an improvement of 13 points since August, when just 29% of respondents said the country was on the right track.  

Team Obama very much welcomes the news, as the president's poor debate performance in Denver emboldened not only the Romney campaign but also the perception that the former CEO and governor does have the answers to speed the economic recovery if elected in November. 

The increase in the number of people who think the country is indeed going in the right direction could be due to the unemployment rate drop from 8.1% in August to 7.8% in September. Though the improvement in the jobs picture seemed to have gone unnoticed in the wake of Romney's debate win, it's possible that more people are now reacting positively to Obama's economic record.

However, this could go one way or another after tomorrow’s town hall CNN debate as Romney will seek to keep the slow but steady momentum in his quest to try to unseat Obama. The president will try, in turn, to be more assertive against his Republican challenger as he paints him as not trustable due to what Democrats say is Romney's chronic flip-flopping. 

Either way, it will be a horse race all the way to November 6.