Democratic convention boosts President Obama

WASHINGTON - Reuters

Obama talks to a group of seniors over a cup of coffee at a coffee in Florida.AP photo

President Barack Obama remained ahead of Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney in a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Aug. 9, maintaining a boost in popularity that followed the Democratic National Convention.
 
Of the 1,419 likely voters polled online over the previous four days, 47 percent said they would vote for Obama and 43 percent for Romney if the Nov. 6 U.S. election were held today.
 
The president’s margin over Romney in the daily rolling poll was unchanged from Saturday’s numbers, turning up the heat on Republican strategists who were hoping for a more muted post-convention “bounce” for Obama in the wake of Friday’s release of weak employment numbers.

 “It means (Democrats) are on good footing going into the rest of the election,” Ipsos pollster Julia Clark said.
 
Obama’s lead already was more sustained than a smaller and shorter-lived boost that Romney enjoyed after the Republican convention finished in Tampa, Florida on Aug. 30, Clark said. The Democratic convention ran through Sept. 6 night in Charlotte, North Carolina.
 
Sunday’s poll showed Romney leading in popularity among registered independent voters, with 35 percent of them saying they would vote for him. Obama had 31 percent. But asked which of the two “will protect American jobs,” 32 percent of independent registered voters picked Obama, while 27 percent sided with Romney.

Meanwhile, Obama’s re-election campaign and the Democratic National Committee raised more than $114 million in August, filling up its coffers for an expensive fall against well-funded Republican rival Mitt Romney.