It’s only Tuesday, but it has already been a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad week for the Obama campaign. Saddled with increasingly bad economic data, the campaign has been doggedly trying to change the subject to anything other than jobs and deficits. We’ve been treated to a mythical GOP “war on women”, a “debate” on birth control, a “road to Damascus” moment on gay marriage, an “expose” of Romney “bullying” in high school, and the burning question of who is a better pet owner. Unfortunately for Obama and his allies in the media, none of it is working.
Yesterday’s CBS/NYT poll makes it very clear that voters care about only one thing: The Economy. The only other issues that registers in the double-digits? Government spending and deficits–not exactly a winning issue for Obama. Not only do voters not care about the social issues Obama and the media are fixated on, there are signs that focus is backfiring. The biggest shift in voter sentiment in the CBS poll was among women, who, in just one month, shifted their support from Obama to Romney. In April, Obama had led Romney by six points among women. Today, women prefer Romney by two points.