A newly released Quinnipiac University poll revealed that voters expect 54 to 28 percent that President Barack Obama will win the presidential debates this month. The poll also found that American voters are more likely to dislike the Republican Party (negative 41-52 percent favorability) than the Democratic Party (negative 45-49 percent favorability).
Obama has an 18-point lead among women, the poll found, placing him ahead of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, 49 percent to 45 percent among voters nationwide.
The president also has a 94-2 percent lead among black voters, the Quinnipiac poll said. On the other hand, Romney enjoys the wider support of men (52-42 percent) and white voters (53-42 percent).
Peter A. Brown, the assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute explained, "President Barack Obama won only about 43 percent of the white vote in 2008, so his current standing among whites tracks his earlier winning performance. If the president can match or exceed his 2008 showing among whites it will be difficult to impossible for Romney to win."
The assistant director added, "It is also very difficult to win an election when you are getting shellacked among women, the group that makes up about half the electorate."
The recent poll also revealed that American voters said 60-25 percent believe that the federal government would make progress on the nation's problems if one party were to control both the White House and all of Congress.
Brown said, "Historically, voters have preferred divided government in the belief that one side can keep the other in line, but these numbers may indicate that the public is fed up with gridlock in Washington."
Similarly to previous polls, the economy and health care were listed as the top two most important issues in the coming election. Followed by the budget deficit and national security. While most voters believed that Obama would do better with the economy, 48-47 percent, Romney was chosen as the better candidate for fixing the budget deficit, 52-42 percent.
The poll found that Obama leads Romney on all other issues, including health care (50-45 percent), national security (50-44 percent) and in international crisis (52-43 percent).
GOP hopeful Romney has three upcoming presidential debates to turn the tides in his favor. "The best news for Romney going into the debates is that voters have very low expectations for him and therefore the bar for him to change some minds is set lower than it is for the president," Brown said.
The first of the presidential debates will be on October 3 at the University of Denver, where the topic of debate will be domestic policy. Two more debates will be held on October 16 at Hofstra University in New York and October 22 at Lynn University in Florida.
WATCH ASSISTANT DIRECTOR TIM MALLOY EXPLAIN THE POLL RESULTS:
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