Polling: Majority Describe Romney Views As 'Mainstream'

By Susan Duclos

In polling conducted from late April until today, June 3, 2012, using likely voters vs adults or registered voters,  the Romney campaign can take comfort in a majority that sees his views as mainstream, a plurality that self identify as fiscally conservative and a high number that see Romney as somewhat conservative rather than very conservative.

June 3, 2012- Rasmussen finds that 52 percent of likely voters finds it more accurate to describe Mitt Romney's views as mainstream and 30 percent believe it is more accurate to describe him as extreme.

45 percent of voters describe Obama as mainstream with 45 percent saying he is extreme.

At the end of April, polling of likely voters, which a majority of polling organizations will start using closer to the November presidential elections because a likely voter sampling is more predictive of actual outcome, 43 percent of voters described themselves as conservative on fiscal issues such as taxes, government spending and business regulation. 40 percent consider themselves moderate and only 13 percent self identified as fiscally liberal.

In May, Rasmussen found that 68 percent of voters say Obama is liberal, 43 percent describing him as "very liberal" and 25 percent consider him "somewhat liberal".

60 percent found Romney conservative with only 18 percent saying he was "very conservative" and 42 percent calling him "somewhat conservative."

The April poll is the prism to which the other polls can be seen through which gives Romney an advantage over Obama in the months leading up to the November presidential election.

With 40 percent of U.S. likely voters self identifying as moderate, (April poll) being seen as "extreme" on either side of the political spectrum, is a disadvantage, and 15 percent more see Obama as extreme than Romney. 7 percent more see Romney's views as mainstream than they do Obama's. (June poll)

With only 13 percent describing themselves a fiscally liberal, (April poll), the high number of likely voters, 43 percent, seeing Obama as "very liberal vs somewhat liberal, (May poll), is again a major advantage for Mitt Romney.

Both Romney and Obama need to be appealing to moderates and Independents because neither party's base is enough alone to win a presidential election. While many conservatives did not see Romney as conservative enough, now that he is the GOP nominee, conservatives are already uniting behind him because he is more conservative than Obama.

With jobs, taxes, the economy and the federal deficit being priorities to the general population, according to priority polling, and 73 percent seeing themselves as fiscally moderate or conservative,  Barack Obama could be in serious trouble come November.