Charles Dharapak/AP Photo
Mitt Romney addressing the deaths of U.S. embassy officials in Benghazi, Libya on Wednesday during a speech in Jacksonville, Florida.
The international crisis at two U.S. embassies began at the beginning of last week and so did Mitt Romney's latest struggle with foreign policy. We know how many professional Republicans and Democrats responded to Romney's reaction but what about the American people? Were they paying attention and if so, what do they think about Romney's early statement attacking the president and the diplomatic corps, even as they were under attack and about how the president handled the situation?
Obama has had a lead in foreign policy in most polls. The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press did more digging. They recently conducted a poll asking first if people were following the story and second what they thought of Mitt Romney's response to the situation and also President Obama's response to the situation. Here is some of what they found.
About four-in-ten Americans (43%) have followed news about the attacks on U.S. embassies in the Middle East and the killing of an American ambassador very closely, making it by far the most closely followed foreign news story of the year.
Those who have followed this story have much more positive opinions about Barack Obama’s handling of the situation than Mitt Romney’s comments on the crisis. Nearly half (45%) approve of Obama’s handling of the recent attacks on U.S. embassies and the killing of the U.S. ambassador in Libya; 36% disapprove of Obama’s handling of this situation.
In contrast, only about a quarter (26%) of those who have tracked news on turmoil in the Middle East approve of Romney’s comments on the situation; nearly half (48%) disapprove.
The Pew Poll also found:
Romney gets higher marks among those who have followed Middle East events very closely than among those who followed them less closely. Even among this group, however, more disapprove (49%) than approve (34%) of his comments on the situation.
There are only modest partisan differences in attentiveness to the recent attacks on the embassies and the killing of the U.S. ambassador: 48% of Republicans, 41% of Democrats and 45% of independents have followed this story very closely.
During the DNC, President Obama used Mitt Romney's previous foreign policy gaffes in the United Kingdom as a punchline. This week's events however, are anything but funny.
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Lawrence,
Could you explain to me on your show why it is 47% and NOT 8% that do not pay their income taxes?
If only 8% of the people are unemployed, aren't the rest paying their income tax and others through payroll deductions?
Why aren't the fact checking sites explaining that the refunds are given AFTER the taxes are paid????
Also...
Why are the Republican'ts so upset?
I thought they were all in favor of less taxes?
Last but not least...
Can you explain to me why people collecting entitlement insurance when they need it most are being called "Moochers" by Romney?
Do they call people who collect private insurance claims moochers too?
Why is collecting on public insurance when you need it is freeloading,
but if you collect from private insurance you deserved it?"
Sounds like...
"if you built it and you're successfull you did it,
but if it failed it's the government's fault."
Thank you Lawrence, I am looking forward to seeing your show.
INCOME TAX and PAYROLL TAX are TWO DIFFERENT THINGS.
You'd think that after months of this stupid 53%-47% debate, people would have this figured out by now. THEY DON'T CARE IF YOU PAY PAYROLL TAXES. DO YOU UNDERSTAND? They're calling you freeloaders simply because you don't pay FEDERAL INCOME TAXES, and THAT is why they're going down in flames. Get it?
I know - I thought it was pretty funny that Romney was basically complaining that people with little or no income weren't paying more taxes! {Again - I thought Republicans were all for less taxes!} ;)
I guess what he is saying is that if half the people in this country are paying all of the taxes, why should the other half complain about a tax cut.
No one used the word "moochers except some liberal media.
The 47% that don't pay taxes aren't the people that can be expected to vote for Romney, and even you must realize that the 47% corresponds roughly to the number of voters who report in the polls they support Barrack Obama. But hey are not all the same people, and it was not Romney's intention to state so. He was saying too things in his off the cuff remarks in May to his prospective campaign contributors:
1)
Sorry: this misfired to post before I had completed my comment.
That was Romney was saying two things:
1) There are people who depend on the Big Government Obama approach of ever most costly social programs that will be voting for Barrack Obama, and they will not be voting for someone who is out front with a campaign message that says we must reform the entitlement programs to save them for the future, and that we must scale back the out of control social spending done with borrowed money due to our fiscal situation.
2) This race will be very tight, with both of us having a base of 47% to call upon, so our message to have success at the polls has to be brought to the 5% to 10% of voters who are not solidly in either camp.
Nothing more, nothing less.
We are at our lowest participation rate in the labor market of all time, with only 58% of our population either working, or actively looking for work. But he number of people on food stamps, and other forms of financial assistance from the federal govenment, including those receiving any of the entitlement beneffits, has gone over to over half of our population. This surely is not sustainable. End of story!
DON'T ANYBODY IN THE REPUBLICAN PARTY EVER TELL ME DIFFERENT ON FOREIGN POLICY. The September 11, 2001 tells me that NO Republican Party Member ever heed to the warnings that the incident on that day was imminent. I AM STILL AS ANGRY thinking about all those lives that was lost because of the NEGLIGENCE of the G. W. Bush Administration. SO.....DON'T ANYONE CRITICIZE PRESIDENT OBAMA in his handling of FOREIGN AFFAIRS/POLICY. NO ONE IN THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IS QUALIFIED TO CRITICIZE THE PRESIDENT of the United States of America. NO ONE.
I love your argument!!! You hit the nail on the head. The Presidentof the United States Obama has done a great job protecting our country!!!
@PRussel: you're right, and it's even worse than that. The incompetent idiots who advised the Shrub on foreign policy, including the neglect that permitted the 9/11 attacks to occur, are now advising Romney on foreign policy.
If Mitt was so concerned about us paying less taxes then he should let us all in on how he manages to hide earnings in the Caymans. We should all be able to do the same. then the government gets no funding at all. We will see how that works out.
Three people died in the embassy attack,and that is very,very tragic.but over 3,000 innocent people died in the 911 attack...why in the hell do republicans feel they have a right to talk crap about our President ? oh that's right because they are @!$%#ing stupid and ignorant hypocrites ! Obama in 2012 ! and you can take that to the bank !
Mitt is one of the 47% who does not pay income tax. Listen to him. He says "I pay taxes...plenty of taxes"... but he never uses the word "income" when he speaks of the taxes he pays.
I think Mr. Odonnell is correct when he says that Mitt won't release prior taxes because he took advantage of the IRS amnesty a few years back thus avoiding a federal prosecution for tax evasion.
He has created a line in the sand and now, the repubs are running away as quickly as they can!
Tomorrow will be "Mitt Who??"
He has breathed his last day of being hopeful of moving into Pennsylvania Ave.
So Angry Larry....how skewed with this poll and how many Democrats did it oversample....bet you won't tell us that part now will you Larry???
Funny thing about polling agencies, they post that information with the poll. Did you not read it? I did. It's on the second page:
http://www.people-press.org/files/2012/09/9-17-12-4.png
I honestly can't understand how anyone can look at Mitt Romney and how he has handled himself and say, "Yeah I think that guy should be President". It boggles the mind. Are there really that many people who so dislike having a black president that they would vote for such a bafoon? Mitt Romney is unfit to run for dog catcher let alone President of the United States. He honestly makes me sick at this point.
I would like to introduce everyone to a 47%-er. Please meet "Betty" in Florida;
You know its bad when Romneys own party really dont think he can win.If the RepubliKKKlans really thought he had a shot at winning they wouldnt be trying to stop us from voting.Anyone who says that they think he can win fair and square they are telling a damn lie!
Romney/Ryan R.I.P. 2012
Okay, allow me to clearify something since obviously, youtube links are tricky here, ..... My previous comment was to be accompanied by a video of Paul Ryan and his Mom (Betty) in Florida inwhich Paul Ryan declares Medicare is not a program, it is what his mom depends on.
The point of this extroidinarily failed attempt is, Paul Ryan's mom is a 47%-er .
Sorry I blew it.
Romney is just an over paid corporate raider, not even close to being a wise business manager, never will be either. If corporations are people too then Romney is guilty of first degree murder. No matter how many he might of helped, he still killed more. If all these idiot republicans still support this jerk, they deserve his fate. Vote them all out of the congress and senate too. End the corporate monarchy in 2012.
Republicans, now more desperate than ever, are at this very minute doubling down on efforts to tamper the voting machines, or lock them away the way they did in Ohio in 2004. This race will NOT be decided until every last vote is allow to be cast, and then fairly counted. Remember the reports of voting machines in 2010 that switched people's votes when they submitted their votes???
Please, may we have a report on what steps are being taken?
Lawrence,
It would be outstanding if you could entice a psychologist onto your show to discuss the following topic from National Institutes of Health (click anywhere):
I don't believe conservative media personalities have been made aware of this research.
Would be funny to analyze this topic by discussing conservative urban legends like the birth certificate now that it it too late to take it all back.
"Pew" Research stinks. The real skinny is that according to the just recently released Gallup Poll Barrack Obama dropped from 53% support for his handling of foreign affairs to 41% as measured directly after the killing of our Ambassador and his colleagues, and the blow up across the Muslim world that so exposed our lack of preparedness, and the failure of his policy of trying to supplant with his unique personality only the former strong economic, diplomatic, and miltary involvement in the Middle East and Western Asia as under the previous four predecessors in the office of the Presidency of the US, all outfront leaders in the World, instead of "leaders from behind", which is appearing more and more to mean from behind Hillary Clinton's skirts.
The actual figure was 5% among all voters (down to 49%, and still about 20 points higher than Mitt-for-brains). The 12% was among those who self-identified as "independents."
Personally, I try to avoid watching clips from FAUX Noise, but I took some perverse pleasure in watching the pain on Laura Ingraham's face as she tried feign outrage at having to report Mitt's gaffes...
Romney campaign appears to be having financial difficulties...
Well – it’s an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll not a Gallup Poll.
Well – that’s for Independent voters not over all – over all was 54% to 49% - according to the NBC/WSJ poll with a +- error of 3.61% for “likely” voters. Also assumes that a decrease for Obama is automatically an increase for Romney.
“measured directly after the killing of our Ambassador and his colleagues”
Makes the assumption that the drop in polls is the result of embassy attack - could be - don't know. Would need a poll taken 9/10/2012 for comparison and to establish any upward or downward trend over the past month that was already in effect
When the question is asked more directly in other polls about how Obama responded and how Romney responded the results are interesting. These results are from a poll that puts Obama's foreign policy approval at a much lower rating - but that's not the real issue - the real issue is his comparison to Romney. None of the polls explain what likely voters disapprove of - just that they disapprove.
39% of likely voters strongly approved or somewhat approved of Obama’s response last week, while 25% strongly or somewhat approved of Romney’s response. 16% of Republicans approved of Obama’s response while only 4% of Democrats approved of Romney’s. On this issue, Independents favored Obama 33% to Romney 23%.
When asked “Who do you trust more to handle foreign policy – Mitt Romney or Barack Obama?” the response by likely voters was somewhat down party lines 42% (Romney) to 51% (Obama) except that 12% of the Republicans defected to Obama while only 6% of Democrats thought Romney had the edge. Independents favored Obama by about 10%. Note, this question was asked between 9/13 and 9/17. Error +-2.5%
All polls have “bias” – this does not always indicate a deliberate “political” bias but does reflect assumptions made by the pollster. Rasmussen and other polls make use of “likely” voters in their calculations – others use only “registered” voters. Various “weights” are also applied to counteract imperfections in the sampling process. Isolated poll are interesting but it is necessary to look at long term trends.
.
I'm not surprised that ole "Mittz" would feel comfortable around his own kind to spout off a few garbs about THOSE people. Wore out the BLACK folks jokes so he turned to lampooning Hispanics and Latinos! He's nothing more than an ole WHITE man(use the term MAN very loosely)with money! BTW, what line of work is his boys in? Hangin' around waiting for ole Mittz to croak? Can't wait for the debates. Barack will whip him like shaving creame!!!
Here's a good debate question for Mitt: Since your own father received welfare aid that provided opportunities for him to eventually succeed so wonderfully, why do you now want to deny this help and opportunities to others?
The debate last night was a clear affirmation of which candidate is "presidential" and which "candidate" is scrambling to fill the empty suit crafted for him by the elite, left-ward leaning media. Obama has more gravitas than Obama every conceived of. We non-Obamaites may lose, but the country will be worse off for having a man who is touted by the likes of Jay-Z, Madonna, Whoopie, Pimp with a Limp, and other non- contributors to the intellectual discussion. Give Obama a talk show or a reality show and let the grown-ups commence with the business of maturity.