Mitt Romney Holds Big Lead On President Obama

If there were any doubts about which Presidential candidate would carry Arkansas, you can erase them.

GOP nominee Mitt Romney holds a 21-point lead over Democratic President Barack Obama in the latest Talk Business-Hendrix College Poll. The survey, conducted on Sept. 17, combined 4 different Congressional District polls into one to create a statewide sample of 2,228 likely voters with a margin of error of +/-2%.

Q. If the election for President were today, which candidate would you support?

34.5%     Democrat Barack Obama
55.5%     Republican Mitt Romney
3%          Other
7%          Undecided

“It should come as no shock that Romney has a sizable lead over Obama,” said Roby Brock, executive editor of Talk Business & Politics. “Our polling has consistently shown Obama faring poorly with Arkansas voters. He holds up well with a big part of his Democratic base, but he struggles with independents and Republicans are solidly in Romney’s corner.”

The Talk Business-Hendrix College Poll also sampled voter attitudes on U.S. Senators John Boozman (R) and Mark Pryor (D).

Q. Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of U.S. Senator John Boozman?

39%     Favorable
23%     Unfavorable
38%     No Opinion

Q. Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of U.S. Senator Mark Pryor?

44%     Favorable
30%     Unfavorable
26%     No Opinion

“I suspect that partisans of both stripes can find good and bad in Boozman’s and Pryor’s numbers,” said Brock. “On one hand, both Senators enjoy a healthy cushion between their favorable and unfavorable numbers. On the other hand, neither official is overwhelmingly popular with a majority of voters, in part because they’re not on the ballot this cycle.”

On Wednesday, Talk Business and Hendrix College will release polling results on Gov. Mike Beebe (D) and a generic state legislature preference.

POLL METHODOLOGY
These four polls, combined into one statewide survey, were conducted by Talk Business Research and Hendrix College on Monday, September 17, 2012. The polls were completed using IVR survey technology among likely general election voters in Arkansas’ four Congressional Districts.

Participants were selected from a database of district voters who have voted in 2 to 4 of the last 4 general elections and who affirmatively answered a question that they intended to vote in the general election on November 6, 2012.

All media outlets are welcome to reprint, reproduce, or rebroadcast information from this poll with proper attribution to Talk Business and Hendrix College.

For interviews, contact Brock by email at [email protected] or Dr. Jay Barth with Hendrix College by email at [email protected].