Obama Scoring Points from the Sideline

President Obama has made up significant ground in the last two months with independent voters. Based on early November polling data from Gallup, the President has enjoyed a 21-point swing among independent voters who were asked if they would be more likely to vote for Obama or for the Republican Party candidate in the November 2012 election.

The percentage of independents who indicated in September polling they would prefer one of the Republican presidential candidates has declined by 10%, while the percentage who indicated they would vote for Obama increased by 11%.

The reasons for this dramatic shift in opinion likely have more to do with what Republicans haven't done than with what the President has done.

Since the collection of the September polling data, the U.S. has shown modest improvements in economic growth and the unemployment rate has had a slight decline, but everyone agrees that while recent results are directionally positive, the economy still faces an incredible uphill climb. In October we also witnessed the final overthrow of a corrupt Libyan regime,which included the capture and killing of Muammar Gaddafi, but I'm not sure anyone is paying attention to Obama's foreign policy successes.