A new Zogby Poll of 414 likely voters shows President Barack Obama expanding his lead over former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney to 10 points - 48.9% to 38.8% among Wisconsin likely voters. More than one in ten voters (11.3%) are undecided. The interactive survey was conducted September 29-30 and has a margin of sampling error of +/- 4.9 percentage points.
Not surprisingly, the President has commanding leads among 18-49 year olds, minorities, and women, but has improved his standing among some of the Republican base. On the eve of the debates, Barack Obama is getting four out of ten voters who earn more than $100k annually and also leads Mitt Romney 37.1% to 28.9% among Independents. There is still almost a third (31.8%) of Wisconsin Independent voters who say they are undecided.
A key group Zogby Analytics has been tracking for years is the "investor class," who are those voters who have more than 30k in investable assets. This is a group Mitt Romney needs to win big and right now in Wisconsin, Barack Obama leads Mitt Romney 48.6% to 38.9% among the investor class.
Pollster John Zogby: "It is striking that this is another poll showing Romney in the high thirties and low forties. For now, he seems stuck."
Managing Director, Jonathan Zogby: "Wisconsin is moving from a swing state to leaning Democratic. It's far from over but as the days tick down to October 3 which is the first debate, you have to wonder if it's too late for Mitt Romney to get his message out to the electorate and rebrand his campaign. He will need to have a strong showing in the first debate to give himself a chance and inject some adrenaline into his candidacy."
Zogby Polls have been widely acclaimed since 1994 as among the most accurate in elections. In this poll, slight weights were applied for party identification, represented at 37% Democrat, 35% Republican, 28% independent.