Presidential Election 2012 - Term Paper Example

At the moment, the polls are very close. In the end, in November 2012, Mitt Romney will be elected president, and Barack Obama will have an early retirement. Barack Obama is a good man, but voters will conclude he is over his head. Voter decision-making processes President Obama took office in 2008, promising to bring hope and change to Washington. Voters were tired and exhausted after eight years under George W. Bush. The Republicans had trouble drumming up support. Obama was like a breath of fresh air.

But immediately, his presidency faced major challenges. He had to decide how to deal with the fallout from the financial crisis which was still unraveling. He had to deal with Iraq and the auto industry. These were major challenges. Although President Obama has tried hard on the economy, the results, nearly four years later are not good. Unemployment is still very high. Many political pundits believe that the elections will largely come down to who is a better economic manager. Mitt Romney has many useful credentials as a businessman.

Voters, when making a decision, are going to look to Romney’s strong economic credentials and Obama’s weak ones. That is part of the reason they are likely to choose Romney when push comes to shove. They are tired of the way Washington has become. Voters still don’t know who to vote for, the evidence suggests. A recent poll reported in the Washington Post showed that the race was still too close to call. The story concluded as follows: Given recent trends, Obama can point to a gradually improving outlook and Romney can cite his experience as a business leader and appeal to those concerned about their own financial plight.

Obama still enjoys a big gender-gap advantage. And the polls show both Romney and Obama are strongly supported by their respective partisans. In most polls, Romney fares well among independents, although not decisively so. Of course, a lot more ups — and downs — lie ahead. (AP) Most critics agree that the better the economy does in the next few months, the better Obama’s chances will be with ordinary voters concerned about pocketbook issues (Dorning). This is something Obama’s people must be very concerned about.

Campaign spending Both Romney and Obama are excellent fundraisers. In 2008, Obama used innovative techniques to bring in small donations. He used the Internet. Now he has a new advantage: incumbency. It will be hard for Romney to match him, as these recent figures show: Obama reported a bank balance of $104.1 million after raising $35.1 million in March. That included $7.5 million transferred from a joint fundraising account with the Democratic National Committee. Romney finished March with $10.

1 million to spend after raising $13.1 million during the month, his best in the campaign. Through March 31, Obama raised $196.6 million for his re- election, more than twice as much as the cumulative $88.7 million collected by Romney’s campaign. One thing is for sure. This will be the most expensive campaign in American history. Both campaigns will raise hundreds of millions of dollars. With the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Citizens United will also allow outside parties to spend money, in an unaffiliated manner.

This probably means more negative ads and untraceable smears. In the end, voters will probably say that they have had enough of Obama. He was given an opportunity to fix the economy but he has been unable to work well with Congress to pass major economic reforms. All he has done is to create more barriers