Poll: Romney’s lead widens among rural voters

Washington, DC, United States (4E) – As President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney prepare to go head-to-head for their second debate this week, a new bipartisan survey found that the first debate on Oct. 3 brought a huge boost to Romney among a major voter group.

A survey among rural voters shows support for Romney surged to 59 per cent compared to Obama’s 37 per cent. Obama’s rating is actually a 10-point decline from what he earned from the rural voters in battleground states four years ago.

The poll was a bipartisan survey of 600 likely rural voters conducted by the pro-Democrat Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research and pro-Republican North Star Opinion Research. It was taken on Oct. 9-11 in nine battleground states through random landline and mobile phone poll.

Romney had a 54-40 lead in the same rural survey last month of the similar battleground states. The significant widening of his lead was a result of his stellar performance in the first presidential debate, according to Dan Judy of North Star Opinion Research and Anna Greenberg of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research.

Greenberg also said that before the debate, many voters in rural areas had reservations of Romney for various reasons. She adds that after the debate, voters became more comfortable with him like they did with former president George W. Bush.

According to data from the Census Bureau, the nine battleground states of Florida, Colorado, Nevada, Iowa, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Virginia and Ohio account for 13.6 million in rural population.

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