U.S. President Barack Obama poses with crowd members after speaking at a campaign event at Natural Habitat Park Field on the St. Petersburg College Seminole Campus in Florida September 8, 2012. REUTERS/Larry Downing

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama, picking up support following the Democratic National Convention, widened his narrow lead over Republican U.S. presidential challenger Mitt Romney in a new Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Saturday.

The latest daily tracking poll showed Obama, a Democrat, with a lead of 4 percentage points over Romney. Forty-seven percent of 1,457 likely voters surveyed online over the previous four days said they would vote for Obama if the November 6 elections were held today, compared with 43 percent for Romney.

"The bump is actually happening. I know there was some debate whether it would happen... but it's here," said Ipsos pollster Julia Clark, referring to the "bounce" in support that many presidential candidates enjoy after nominating conventions.

Obama had leapfrogged Romney in the daily tracking poll on Friday with a lead of 46 percent to 44 percent.

The president's lead comes despite a mixed reaction to his convention speech on Thursday night in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Friday's government data showing that jobs growth slowed sharply last month.

Obama's lead over Romney is comparable to Romney's former lead over the president after the Republican National Convention finished last week, Clark said.

"We don't have another convention now to turn our attention to, so (Obama's bounce) may maintain," Clark said. "How big it'll be and how long it will last remains to be seen."

Obama increased his lead over Romney in certain favorable characteristics. Asked who was more "eloquent," 50 percent of the 1,720 registered voters questioned in the poll favored Obama, compared to 25 percent for Romney. Asked about being "smart enough for the job," 46 percent sided with Obama compared to 37 percent for Romney.

In fact, Obama led Romney in a dozen such favorable characteristics, such as "represents America" or "has the right values." The only such category in which Romney had an advantage was being "a man of faith," as 44 percent picked Romney, who is Mormon, compared to 31 percent for Obama, who is Christian.

The Democratic National Convention itself received a rather muted response in the poll. Of those registered voters who had heard, seen or read at least something about it, 41 percent rated it as "average" and 29 percent as "good."

The Republican National Convention that wrapped up August 30 in Tampa, Florida similarly was rated "average" by 38 percent and "good" by 27 percent in Saturday's polling results.

The precision of the Reuters/Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll has a credibility interval of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points.

(Editing by Will Dunham)

Obama campaigns with former Republican Crist in crucial Florida

By Jeff Mason | Reuters – 1 hr 50 mins ago

SEMINOLE, Florida (Reuters) - President Barack Obama kicked off a two-day bus tour of the key election battleground state of Florida on Saturday with former Florida Governor Charlie Crist, who endorsed Obama's 2008 rival John McCain but has since left the Republican Party.

Trying to build on the momentum of this week's Democratic National Convention and overcome another tough jobs report, Obama is spending the weekend canvassing a state that he and his Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, both want to win in order to achieve victory in the November 6 U.S. election.

The Democratic incumbent hopes Crist, a once popular Republican governor, will help Obama appeal to political independents, who are likely to determine the victor in the state.

"We have a leader with a cool head, and his name is President Barack Obama," Crist told the crowd of some 11,000 at an outdoor rally.

"He is working hard for the middle class. He is working hard for Florida," Crist said.

Crist campaigned for Republican presidential nominee McCain in 2008 but left the Republican Party in 2010 when polling suggested he would lose the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate to Marco Rubio, a favorite of the conservative Tea Party movement. Crist ran as an independent and Rubio won in a three-way race.

Crist embraced Obama - literally - as the president campaigned for his economic stimulus bill in 2009, giving him a big hug that was videotaped and replayed endlessly. It reinforced Republican suspicions that Crist was not a true conservative.

Obama, with sleeves rolled up and no tie, embraced Crist again on Saturday after his remarks.

"I want to thank Charlie Crist for his introduction, for his support, for showing that the values that we're fighting for are not Democratic values or Republican values, they are American values," Obama said.

'ROMNEY DON'T CARE'

Obama has traveled to Florida 10 times so far this year, according to his campaign. Obama used his stop on Saturday to criticize Romney and his running mate, congressman Paul Ryan, for their opposition to his 2010 healthcare law and proposals to reform Medicare, the popular government health insurance program for the elderly.

"By the way, Florida, you should know I will never turn Medicare into a voucher system," he said. "No American should have to spend their golden years at the mercy of insurance companies."

Ryan proposed a plan two years ago that would transform Medicare into a program in which recipients would use vouchers to buy private insurance.

Romney has also pledged to repeal the healthcare law often called "Obamacare." Obama told the crowd the former Massachusetts governor's plan should be called "Romney don't care" and joked that Republicans believed tax cuts were so important they could help a person's love life.

Romney's campaign kept up the heat on the president over his economic record. Government data on Friday showed that U.S. employers added a lower-than-expected 96,000 jobs in August.

"After a disastrous convention week and a widely panned speech that was short on specifics, President Obama delivered more empty promises and false attacks today in Florida," said Romney spokesman Ryan Williams.

"As yesterday's dismal jobs report showed - and as President Obama admitted - job creation in America isn't good enough, yet he didn't lay out any new ideas for getting our economy back on track."

Brian Olinger, 40, who attended the president's rally, said Crist could help Obama in Florida. "Even though I was a Democrat, he did some good things for teachers and other people when he was governor," he said.

(Twitter: @jeffmason1; Additional reporting by Jane Sutton; Editing by Will Dunham)

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Wanabidii Place

Saturday 8 September 2012

[wanabidii] Poll: Obama widens lead over Romney despite jobs data

Poll: Obama widens lead over Romney despite jobs data

Obama campaigns with former Republican Crist in crucial Florida

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