Obama, Romney et le "swing vote"

Plusieurs votes sont solides dans les deux camps, comme c'est le cas depuis quelques années la marge pour les gains est très réduite. Les indécis décideront du sort des deux candidats.

 "Upscale, college-educated white voters and the blue-collar working class are on opposite ends of the economic spectrum. Their political interests often clash. They don’t always support the same candidate.

  But for the purposes of the 2012 campaign, they fall squarely into the same category: "The Persuadables."

 The swing vote in this year’s presidential race may be as small as ever, as polarized partisans dig in behind their respective nominees. The collection of voters who could actually change their minds under the influence of the candidate and the campaign itself includes many of the usual suspects: downscale Midwesterners, suburban women and other better-educated, higher-income white Americans. Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have focused so far on solidifying their base, but it’s these divided, wobbly groups that are the most crucial prizes in the general election. In an Obama-Romney showdown, these groups are on track to be especially competitive because the two candidates’ strengths and weaknesses are so similar. Obama and Romney have tended to overperform among better-educated, upper-income voters. They have both struggled to connect with the working class. Obama had a hard time overcoming Hillary Clinton’s downscale advantage in the 2008 cycle and Romney repeatedly lost the category to Rick Santorum in this year’s GOP primary.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0412/75335.html