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Politics

2012 Election Match Up: Romney Wins, Paul Might

Emily Ekins | 1.13.2012 3:41 PM

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According to a recent CBS News Poll Romney would beat Obama in a hypothetical presidential election match up with 47 percent to Obama's 45 percent. Yet, these numbers are still within the poll's margin of error. Also, the poll found that Ron Paul would garner 45 percent of the vote to Obama's 46 percent, also within the margin of error. Part of Romney and Paul's relative success compared to other GOP candidates like Santorum, Gingrich, and Perry, is that both Romney and Paul receive nearly half the Independent vote. In a hypothetical match up, Paul would garner 47 percent of the Independent vote compared to Obama's 40 percent. Likewise, Romney would receive 45 percent of the Independent vote compared to Obama's 39.

These numbers are crucial to campaign strategy, as Independent voters play a significant role in determining the selection of president. In 2008 Obama won over Independent voters. Today, Obama would lose the Independent vote to Romney and Paul. 

Full poll results can be found here.

The CBS news poll was conducted by telephone from January 4-8, 2012 among 1,413 adults nationwide, including 1,247 interviews were conducted with registered voters. Phone numbers were dialed from samples of both standard land-line and cell phones. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points. The margin of error for the sample of registered voters could be plus or minus three points. The error for subgroups may be higher. This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

Follow Emily Ekins on Twitter @emilyekins

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NEXT: 2012 Election Match Up: Romney, Paul tie Obama

Emily Ekins is a research fellow and director of polling at the Cato Institute.

PoliticsRon PaulReason-Rupe SurveysCampaigns/ElectionsRick PerryRick SantorumJon HuntsmanElection 2012Newt GingrichBarack ObamaMitt RomneyIndependents
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    So, to sum up, all those media comments about Ron Paul's supposed lack of electability were totally fabricated. He polls just as well among Republicans and Democrats as Gingrich, and much better than Gingrich among independents.

  2. Martin Rapav?   13 years ago

    Well, the most significant thing is that Ron Paul has the highest chances of winning the election when pitted against Barrack Obama!

    1. MartinRapav?   13 years ago

      I mean, among independents, of course...

  3. Libertartian EV Driver   13 years ago

    This poll should have a "3rd Party" option for each of the match-ups. There will be a large Libertarian turnout this year. Ron Paul is the only Republican I would vote for.

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    RNC remember this:

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