Outside the Mainstream

OUTSIDE THE MAINSTREAM Center-right electorate considers itself closer to Romney than Obama QUESTIONS INDEPENDENT VOTERS WHO SEE INDEPENDENT VOTERS WHO SEE Overall, do you think Barack Obama/Mitt Romney is very OBAMA ROMNEY HAVING THE SAME IDEOLOGY AS THEMSELVES HAVING THE SAME IDEOLOGY AS THEMSELVES liberal, somewhat liberal, mod- erate, somewhat conservative, or very conservative in his political beliefs? 25% 34% When thinking about politics today, do you normally con- sider yourself to be very liberal, somewhat liberal, mod- erate, somewhat conservative, or very conservative? VERY LIBERAL INDEPENDENTS (3.2) VERY CONSERVATIVE How voters view: LIKELY VOTERS (3.3) SUMMARY THEMSELVES The electorate is center-right, with "somewhat conservative" and "moder- ate" being the dominant choices for voters rating themselves. Mitt Romney is perceived as somewhat conservative. When asked how they view Mitt Romney on a five-point scale, 38% say he is "somewhat conservative", while 26% say he is "very conservative" and 15% say he is "moderate." President Obama is perceived as very liberal. 39% of voters view Barack Obama as "very liberal," and 23% view him as "somewhat liberal," for a total of 62% who view Obama as a candidate of the left. Moreover, Independent voters today are twice as likely to view Obama as "very liberal" (41%) than Romney as "very conservative" (20%). Voters perceive themselves closer to Mitt Romney than Barack Obama. Voters' self-placement puts them at 3.33 on a five-point scale, far closer to Mitt Romney (3.88) than to Barack Obama (2.07), confirming our May finding that it is President Obama who is outside the ideological mainstream. How voters view: CANDIDATES PERCEPTION OF ROMNEY PERCEPTION OF OBAMA (2.0) (2.1) (3.8) (3.9) VERY LIBERAL VERY CONSERVATIVE HOW TO READ THIS CHART Survey Information: National Survey of Likely Voters, August 16-22, 2012, N=1000, Margin of Error +/-3.10%, including n=462 oversample of 12 battle- ground states, Margin of Error = +/- 5.72 % The bottom row shows the The top row shows key voting blocs in the 2012 election and their self-described average ideology of President Obama and Governor Romney as perceived by likely voters and Independents. average ideology on a 5-point scale: 1- Very Liberal 2 - Somewhat Liberal 3 - Moderate 4 - Somewhat Conservative 5 - Very Conservative * RESURGENT REPUBLIC Lines connect the two rows: red lines show a group's perception of Romney, blue lines show a group's perception of Obama. www.resurgentrepublic.com