The George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management Survey called The Horse Race Finds that President Obama's Campaign Wins Week 6.
Fifty-Eight Percent Find President Obama Not Providing Enough 'Vision/Details' for Second Term in Acceptance Speech
Top findings for the week ending Sunday, September 9th include:
• Momentum shifted back to the Obama campaign with the Democratic National Convention taking place in Charlotte, North Carolina.
• Thirty-nine percent of insiders thought Vice President Biden's speech was effective. Thirty percent thought it was not effective. Twenty percent thought it was neutral.
• Fifty-three percent of insiders thought President Obama's convention speech was effective; 40 percent thought it was ineffective.
• Seventy percent of insiders thought the Democrats were effective in delivering their message; Only eleven percent thought they were not.
• Reinstating the words "God" and "Jerusalem" into the Democratic Party platform was seen by 42 percent of insiders as hurting the Obama campaign; 29 percent said it helped; 28 percent thought it had no impact.
• Former President Bill Clinton scored the highest among insiders for his speech being very effective with a 1.3; Michelle ranked second with a 1.6. According to insiders, activist Sandra Fluke had the least effective speech, garnering a 3.36 among those measured (1=very effective; 5=very ineffective)
• Sixty-three percent of insiders thought the jobs report announcement on Friday hurt the Obama campaign effort while 28 percent thought it had no impact.
Full survey results for the week ending Sunday, Sept. 9 are as follows:
Rate the prior week's performance (1- Very Ineffective, 5 - Very Effective)
Mitt Romney's PERSONAL PERFORMANCE as a Presidential candidate 2.93
Barack Obama's PERSONAL PERFORMANCE as a Presidential candidate 3.83
Mitt Romney's presidential CAMPAIGN OPERATION 2.92
Barack Obama's presidential CAMPAIGN OPERATION 4.00
Which presidential campaign "won" the previous week?
Romney Campaign 06 percent
Obama Campaign 79 percent
Neither 14 percent
Both 00 percent
Don't know 01 percent
What was the pivotal moment of the campaign in the previous week?
Select Comments
Democrat Insider: "Bill Clinton's speech was huge for Obama. He's still the most popular ex-President and he reminds folks of better economic times. His speech may have single-handedly swung the election for Obama."
Republican Insider: "While the Obama campaign gained momentum due to the DNC, the momentum was at least partially offset by a weak jobs and growth report."
Democrat Insider: "The President's acceptance speech. He said exactly what needed to be said. He was 'real' while speaking about our problems, but he offered just enough 'hope/change' to remind us that he has realistic solutions."
Republican Insider: "Uplifting speech by President Clinton, but the 'blame Bush' rhetoric fails to resonate with undecided voters who want solutions, not finger pointing."
Non-Affiliated Insider: "The convention went very well for the Democrats. It was interesting and energizing for the base, but appealed to non-affiliated voters."
What advice would you give either of the presidential campaign's based on the performance of last week (please indicate either Obama or Romney at the beginning of your answer)?
Select Comments
Democrat Insider: OBAMA: "Continue to use Bill Clinton on the campaign trail as an effective surrogate."
Republican Insider: ROMNEY: "Hit back hard at Obama's record and his character in particular. Too much silence from your campaign in the wake of the DNC attacks."
Democrat Insider: OBAMA: "Stay on the offensive following conventions, particularly on falsehoods in Ryan speech, economic examples in Clinton speech, and GOP's failure or inability to focus on military or foreign policy in Tampa."
Republican Insider: ROMNEY: "The Romney campaign should be ALL OVER the Israel issue. He should also have been spending his entire campaign saying, we gave him 4 years to do the job, and we're not better off, vote him out. Romney is not being strong enough in his convictions."
Non-Affiliated Insider: ROMNEY: "Keep talking about job numbers and the contrast to Obama's speech and his promises."
The GSPM Horse Race is an aggregated, weekly measure of the opinions of graduate students, alumni, full-time faculty and adjunct professors at GSPM. The results are not intended to be representative of any larger population. The responses have been weighted to ensure that they are balanced politically, by equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans. The comments provided are from survey participants.