Voters See Little Difference in Candidates' Characters

Most voters think Mitt Romney and Barack Obama are pretty similar when it comes to issues of character, according to a recent Hill poll. In terms of strength of leadership, Romney leads Obama 48 percent to 44 percent, and 47 percent of voters polled said they identify with the Republican candidate’s values as opposed to 44 percent who align themselve with the president’s. Forty-six percent of those surveyed said they consider Mitt more honest and trustworthy, while 44 percent said they feel that way about Obama. “I think in a very close election—which this one promises to be—those intangibles do make a difference, and it could be a decisive difference for some people,” noted Cal Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University. “Even before Romney was the [de facto Republican] nominee, Obama’s character and personality always polled better than his policies and better than his performance. If he were being evaluated purely on performance, he would be in great difficulty.”