President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney wave before beginning their debate in Colorado on October 3. Photo: courtesy of Voice of America.
US President Barack Obama voted today, making history with his very early vote. In less than two weeks, Americans will vote for the next US President either incumbent President Obama or former Governor Mitt Romney during an election season that reports are still calling a “dead heat”.
Having finished the third and final debate on October 22, both candidates are now spending valuable time in “swing states” campaigning for the seat in the White House. Voters across the country will cast their ballot on November 6.
Strong presence and campaign strategy plays a critical role for candidates due to the American voter system, called the “Electoral College”. Each state has an assigned number of “votes” depending largely on the number of citizens who live in that state. By reason of political demographics, many states consistently vote “Democrat” or “Republican”, while the remaining typically undecided states are labelled “swing states”. The most influential of these states include Florida, Ohio, Iowa, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Virginia.
Jared Ray, a political analyst in Mesa, Arizona, says current polling indicates that the electoral votes fall in President Obama’s favor.
“However, Romney leads in other polling samples in different states,” Ray said. “If he wins Ohio, or Iowa together with Nevada, he has an extremely good chance of winning the election.”
News reports show the race continues to be tight in Florida and Iowa as both parties funnel money and campaign ploys to motivate citizens to vote.
Some are confident in Obama’s lead and victory.
“Many of the states that are in the warzone may show the candidates are tied, or some even in Romney’s favor by a point or two,” said Phoenix, Arizona resident Dennis Hunt, 30. “But I think the states will fall naturally into what they have done in the past and vote for President Obama.”
This week’s debate featured a number of punches by President Obama, that although effective, were well-absorbed by a confident Romney. The final debate may have helped Obama gain some ground on the momentum Romney received after the first debate on October 3.
“Romney was solid; however, he did seem like he was too short or not as deep as I would have liked him to be,” said Chad McRae, a Republican in the Phoenix area. “Governor Romney was in agreement on foreign policy with Obama more than he was against him. With that said, there are some issues where I can side with President Obama as well but just with different thoughts on what shots to call. It would be hard for Romney to really capture foreign policy having not had the opportunity like Obama has.”
Political commentators have generally agreed that President Obama emerged as the victor of the last debate, but there is still speculation on whether or not that will have enough influence to turn that victory into votes.
