Poll Watch: Rasmussen 2012 Presidential Survey

Rasmussen 2012 Presidential Survey

• Barack Obama 44% [40%] (43%) {46%} [42%] {45%} [42%] (44%)
• Mitt Romney 41% [43%] (39%) {38%} [43%] {40%} [44%] (44%)

Survey of 1,000 likely voters was conducted September 18-19, 2011.  The margin of error is +/- 3 percentage points.  Results from the poll conducted September 10-11, 2011 are in square brackets.  Results from the poll conducted August 25-26, 2011 are in parentheses.  Results from the polls conducted August 17-22, 2011 are in curly brackets.  Results from the polls conducted between July 14-15, 2011 are in square brackets.  Results from the poll conducted March 6-9, 2011 are in curly brackets. Results from the poll conducted January 3-4, 2011 are in square brackets. Results from the poll conducted November 24, 2009 are in parentheses.

Inside the numbers:

Romney edges the president by five points among male voters but loses among female voters by 10. Voters under 40 prefer Obama, while older voters generally tend to favor the Republican.
Union members support the president over Romney by a three-to-one margin. 

Both candidates carry roughly 80% of the voters in their respective parties. Voters not affiliated with either of the parties are evenly divided, but 23% of these voters are either undecided or like another candidate in the race.