Obama, Romney Race to the Finish; Job Numbers Climb -The Road to the White House - Election 2012 - Week 44

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Category: Beltway Insider

Published on Saturday, 03 November 2012 23:14

Written by Janet Walker

President Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney may have met their match as Super Storm Sandy slammed into the eastern seaboard momentarily erasing Election 2012 from the headlines.

Sandy, with sustained winds of 80mph and gusts up to 90mph,  made land fall Monday leaving in its wake twenty-four coastal and inland states with weakened infrastructure systems, sporadic power outages, potentially long term transportation disruptions and with days before the upcoming election the force of nature may single handedly tipped the odds of Tuesday’s Presidential race.

As we head into the last days of Election 2012, according to Gallup, who’s service was disrupted and was unable to provide weekly polling insights, President Obama’s Job Approval, over the past month with a plus/minus three point margin, has remained at 46% of those polled who approve of his effectiveness as President and those who disapprove of his effectiveness gained three percentage points to 49%.

President Obama’s national popularity, over the past month has remained with a plus/minus three point margin, among registered voters at 48% and Mitt Romney’s national popularity, again over the past month has remained with a plus/minus three point margin at 48%.

According to Gallup among likely voters, Mitt Romney’s national popularity, over the past month has remained with a plus/minus two point margin and has remained at least four percentages points above the incumbent, at 51% and President Obama’s national popularity among likely voters, over the past month has remained with a plus/minus two point margin at 46%.

Super Storm Sandy Impacts

Up and down the East coast Hurricane Sandy, an Atlantic power storm, cut an 800 mile swath hitting hardest concentrated population areas such as New York City, Washington, D.C, New Jersey, secluding residents, destroying homes, flooding roads, wrecking havoc and bringing chaos as far inland as Tennessee and West Virginia where flood alerts were replaced with record early snowfalls.

With the Presidential election set for Tuesday, November 6 poll workers have been given the daunting task of relocating, in New York City alone over 80 polling places. Cities and towns, now war zones, are faced with the same task of relocating the polling place and notifying residents who still have no electricity on the new location.

The voter turnout prior to Monday’s brutalizing disaster had been calculated as less than 2008. With all the disruptions, personal injury and property damage as well as the lack of basic necessities including electricity it is highly probable the turnout in those states directly affected by Hurricane Sandy will be less than expected. In New York City, comprised of five boroughs, there are possibilities that hard hit Staten Island may only have half of the predicted or potential voter expected turnout or even less.

Should electricity remain out and voters do make it to the polls, paper ballots may be used. The poll workers will provide a paper ballot. In the chance that paper ballots are used, follow these directions. The voter will use the stylus device provided and, liken to a key-hole punch, solidly push the corresponding square for the candidate of choice so much so that the paper disengages with the ballot. The hanging paper must fall away from the ballot. Feel free to manually pull the hanging square prior to inserting the ballot in the ballot box.

October Job Numbers Released; September Adjusts Up

October Jobless numbers were released this past week barely creating a ripple in the campaigns as all election focus deferred to Hurricane Sandy.

For the second straight month, in over three years, the jobless rate fell below the stubborn 8% where it has been cemented for 43 months.  The U. S. Department of Labor announcement indicated 171,000 new jobs were added in the month of September with the jobless rate now sits at 7.9%.

Hurricane Sandy is still making headlines as clean up has yet to start with electricity in lower Manhattan, five days later, finally being restored. Millions in New York City’s outer boroughs, Long Island, New Jersey and throughout the entire eastern seaboard are now faced with the possibility of unemployment.

It’s impossible to predict if the states affected by Monday’s unprecedented super storm will fare better than the New Orleans labor market directly after Hurricane Katrina, who lost, in the aftermath of that category five disaster,  95,000 jobs over ten months.

After 44 weeks of politicking and campaign Election Day 2012 is three days away.  Head to the polls and vote!

For more information on both candidates:

Obama/Biden Official web site: http://www.barackobama.com

Romney/Ryan official web site: http://www.mittromney.com