Poll: Obama Facing Tight Race With Top GOP Contenders

President Barack Obama is facing a number of GOP match-ups that are too close for comfort, a new Gallup poll found. 

Gallup put the top four Republican presidential candidates up against the President in a general election scenario. Results show that Obama narrowly escapes Reps. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and Ron Paul (R-Texas), 48 to 44 percent and 47 to 45 percent, respectively. 

However, when going head-to-head against Texas Governor Rick Perry, Obama only matches the 47 percent support from likely voters Perry rakes in. The lone GOP’er to topple Obama in a general election match up was former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, out pacing the Commander-in-Chief 48 to 46 percent. 

Given that the election is more than a year away, poll results show that the race is a competitive one thus far. Additionally, despite the four candidates’ varying popularity and name notoriety, each fared about the same. 

The survey was conducted August 17-19, a period of time when Presiden Obama saw his approval ratings dip to just 40 percent. 

Perry Exaggerating His Role In Texas' Growth, Say Progressives

By Gabrielle Pffaflin

Unemployment and migratory data indicate that Texas Governor and GOP Presidential hopeful Rick Perry has exaggerated his role in helping grow Texas’ economy. The data suggests that migration, rising oil prices and municipal governments played significantly greater roles in allowing the state to boast moderate unemployment rates.

The Center for American Progress’ left-leaning blog, Thinkprogress.org, published a report August 17, 2011 entitled Report: Texas Ranks Dead Last In Total Job Creation, Accounting For Labor Force Growth outlining job growth and population growth.

The report states that in the past two and a half years 126,000 jobs were created in Texas. However, the Texas workforce also grew by 437,000 individuals. CAP senior economist and expert in state policies Donna Cooper remarked that the migratory increase likely derived from a low cost-of-living, warm weather and a stable housing market.

Cooper attributed the bulk of Texas’ growth to increasing immigration to the Lone Star State. “I think the biggest thing that contributed to Texas growth is the increase in population in Texas over the last several years,” she told TRNS.

Although the Texas economy grew substantially during the course of the recession, the data indicates that job growth remains disproportionate to population growth. As a result, Texas’ unemployment will likely increase as immigration from Mexico and surrounding U.S. states increases.

“Overall, Texas has added unemployed workers at a rate much faster than it has created jobs,” the report stated. According to the report, rather than Texas, the real “miracle” state is North Dakota, “which has seen over 27,000 new jobs added and a labor force expansion of only 3,700, resulting in about 24,000 new jobs for workers who previously had none.”

According to the National Bureau of Labor Statistics, growth in the Lone Star State is limited to select communities.

It concluded that in June 2011, the primary communities to experience substantial growth and low unemployment remained oil producing communities in North Texas, such as Abilene, Odessa and Midland.

Communities that resided near colleges and major thoroughfares also exhibited growth, however not to the extent of oil and gas producing municipalities.

According to Cooper, this phenomenon primarily results from significant technological improvements in oil extraction that inclines companies to reuse previously closed wells.

Istockanalyst.com published an article called Fortune Oil And Gas Re-opens Shut-in Wells In Texas on July 29 of this year, which announced the re-opening of 37 previously shut-in wells by the end of this month.

However, the article does not directly link oil companies’ decision to re-open wells to Perry’s deregulation policies.

“I don’t necessarily think that the business regulation climate has tons to do with the growth of employment in Texas,” Cooper said. “You also have to [concede] simply to the fact that it is a state that has a lot of oil.”

Cooper added that it is substantially less expensive for companies to reopen closed wells than to drill new wells because, “the infrastructure is already there.”

“I cannot say with certainty that Rick Perry’s administration is responsible for job growth or not,” she concluded. “What I can say is it’s very difficult for a governor to affect their own job numbers. Job numbers are a function of large macroeconomic trends that are much more dependent on federal policies than they are on state and local policies.”

Using that logic, it would be fair to argue that President Obama is more responsible for the nation’s overall high unemployment rate then Perry is for his state’s relatively lower rate. This, of course, then begs the question, which of the two men has the upper hand when it comes to creating jobs?

Editor Geoff Holtzman contributed to this report.

Palin To Obama: Leave Rick Perry Alone

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin came to Rick Perry’s defense Thursday against what she described as unfair criticism from President Obama.

“[Obama should] stay focused and quit picking on other people like Rick Perry who is just going to continue to call it like he sees it,” Palin said during an appearance on Fox News.

During an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer earlier this week, Obama commented on Perry’s assertion that servicemembers want a veteran to serve as Commander in Chief.

“This isn’t like running for governor or running for senator or running for Congress, and you’ve got to be a little more careful about what you say,” Obama said. “But I’ll cut him some slack. He’s only been at it for a few days now.”

The one-time Vice Presidential candidate argued that the President’s response smacked of “arrogance.”

Palin has yet to officially announce whether or not she will make a late entry into the 2012 race. She is slated to address a Tea Party group in Iowa next month, where she is widely assumed to give a definitive answer.

Lieberman May Snub Obama In 2012

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) told Fox News Wednesday that he still isn’t sure which party’s presidential candidate he will endorse in 2012.

“I’m going to approach this 2012 election as the independent I am,” Lieberman, a Democrat until he lost his party’s nomination amid the 2006 mid-term election, said during an appearance on Fox and Friends. “Therefore, I don’t know who I’m going to support at this point.”

If Lieberman declines to throw his support behind Obama, it won’t be the first time the President failed to secure the Connecticut Senator’s endorsement. In 2008, Lieberman backed Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and delivered remarks at the Republican National Convention.

When asked Wednesday about the candidacy of Texas Governor Rick Perry, Lieberman reiterated that it was too early to make a decision, but noted that Perry has made “some very good first impressions.”

Although Lieberman has butted heads with those on the left in recent years, he still caucuses with Senate Democrats. Facing what would likely be a tough race, Lieberman announced earlier this year that he will not run for re-election in 2012.

Poll: Perry Leads GOP Field

Texas Governor Rick Perry may now be the Republican party’s 2012 frontrunner.

According to a new poll from Rasmussen Reports, Perry holds leads former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney 29 percent to 18 percent among likely Republican primary voters. Michele Bachmann, the recent winner of the Iowa straw poll, comes in with 13 percent support.

No other candidate registers double digit support.

“Governor Perry is enjoying a bounce from entering the race at precisely the right time,” Scott Rasmussen, the President of the polling agency, said in a statement. “Now the difficult part begins for the new frontrunner.  It’s much easier winning support when people are hoping you will get in the race, than retaining support when you are the frontrunner.”

Although Perry appears to have had a favorable entry into the race, it has been marked by a barrage of controversial statements. While stumping this week, Perry suggested that some members of the armed services don’t respect President Barack Obama and that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke would commit treason if he printed more money in the lead up to the election.

“I don’t know what y’all would do to him in Iowa, but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas,” Perry said in a video posted by ThinkProgress.com.

Rasmussen Reports polled 1,000 likely GOP primary voters on Monday.