United Liberty

Two new polls out of New Hampshire show a tightening race between former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, who is now being seen as the anti-Romney in the race for the GOP nomination.

The tightening that I referenced isn’t seen on the surface in the poll from the University of New Hampshire; however, Bachmann polled at 4% in the Granite State last month, so she is up 8 points. Romney fell off 6 points, from 41% since last month.

• Mitt Romney: 35%
• Michele Bachmann: 12%
• Ron Paul: 7%
• Rudy Giuliani: 7%
• Rick Perry: 4%
• Tim Pawlenty: 3%
• Sarah Palin: 3%
• Herman Cain: 2%
• Jon Huntsman: 2%
• Newt Gingrich: 1%
• Gary Johnson: 1%
• Other: 2%
• Undecided: 19%

Public Policy Polling, a North Carolina-based Democratic polling firm, shows the gap between Romney and Bachmann now down to a single-digits; the closest any GOP competitor has been in the state.

President Barack Obama rejected a short-term deal on raising the debt ceiling, noting that the administration and Republicans are still miles apart when it comes to a long-term solution.

The folks over at Bankrupting America recently put out this video compiling data from polls showing how Americans feel about raising the debt limit, highlighting that most believe the problem is spending, not a lack of tax revenue.

Public Policy Polling released a survey out of New Mexico yesterday showing Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann leading the pack of Republican presidential hopefuls, although Romney isn’t far behind. Gary Johnson, who served as Governor of the state from 1995 to 2003, comes in just behind them.

• Michele Bachmann: 21%
• Mitt Romney: 18%
• Gary Johnson: 13%
• Sarah Palin: 11%
• Herman Cain: 10%
• Tim Pawlenty: 7%
• Newt Gingrich: 6%
• Ron Paul: 5%
• Other: 9%

They polled a few different scenarios in the race, including leaving out Palin and Johnson but adding Jon Huntsman into the mix. You can see those here. While Public Policy Polling was at it, they polled the GOP primary for U.S. Senate and found Rep. Heather Wilson significantly ahead of the other likely candidates with 52% of Republican voters backing her.

A new poll out of New Hampshire from Suffolk University shows former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney holding steady, though Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann has made gains in the Granite State. Texas Rep. Ron Paul finishes in the top three.

• Mitt Romney: 36%
• Michele Bachmann: 11%
• Ron Paul: 8%
• Rudy Giuliani: 5%
• Sarah Palin: 4%
• Jon Huntsman: 4%
• Herman Cain: 2%
• Newt Gingrich: 2%
• Tim Pawlenty: 2%
• Rick Perry: 2%
• George Pataki: 1%
• Rick Santorum: 1%

The poll notes:

Among those who watched the Republican Presidential debate in Manchester earlier this month, 33 percent said Romney won the debate, while 31 percent gave the win to Bachmann.

New Hampshire Republicans are unconcerned with Romney’s tendency to change positions on issues important to party’s base as 69% say that doesn’t disqualify him from getting their vote.

As the last few polls have shown, New Hampshire is Romney’s to lose.

Mitt Romney’s lead in Iowa appears to have diminished with Iowa-native Michele Bachmann’s entrance into the Republican field of presidential candidates. According to a new poll from the Des Moines Register, the two are in a statistical tie.

• Mitt Romney: 23%
• Michele Bachmann: 22%
• Herman Cain: 10%
• Newt Gingrich: 7%
• Ron Paul: 7%
• Tim Pawlenty: 6%
• Rick Santorum: 4%
• Jon Huntsman: 2%

Bachmann has seen a jump in the polls, not just in Iowa, but nationally as well. The support for Romney, who has decided to skip the Ames Straw Poll in August, remains around the same level in the Des Moines Register poll as it has in other polls conducted in the state. Romney’s team has made New Hampshire their focus.

While the poll is good news for Bachmann, it’s bad news for Pawlenty, who has been spending a signficiant amount of time in Iowa; he’s even running ads in the state (the first candidate to do so). The importance of the state to his presidential ambitions already has some asking how badly he can perform in August’s straw poll and expect to be viewed as a viable candidate.

David Boaz, executive vice president of the Cato Institute, is firing back at Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and other neo-conservatives that are criticizing some Republicans presidential candidates for what they call “isolationist” views:

While it’s a meaningless poll, the latest numbers from Gallup show that President Barack Obama would lose to a “Generic Republican.” Independents, which went for Obama in 2008, are drifting away; with 42% of them supporting the “Generic Republican” over 32% for the president.

Like I said, this poll means nothing. Obama is still in good position to win re-election. Why? Because there is nothing “generic” about the Republican field. Mitt Romney, the frontrunner for the GOP nomination, is going to be viewed skeptically because he’ll have no moral ground to stand on when he criticizes ObamaCare and his frequent changes on positions will be pointed out to no end. Other candidates that have a chance of winning the Republican nomination are either disliked by voters or don’t have the name recognition.

As you know, former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson wasn’t invited to that disaster that CNN called a presidential debate on Monday supposedly because he didn’t met the arbitrary requirements set by the sponsors. Johnson protested and presented a case for his inclusion, including polling data based on the criteria set for the debate. Johnson even received support from Rep. Ron Paul, who said during an interview prior to the debate that Johnson should have been invited.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be. But Johnson is eager to get his message of personal liberty and free markets out, so he posted video responding to each question asked in Monday’s debate. Check it out below:

In polls conducted before last night’s debate in New Hampshire, Mitt Romney appears to making gains in among voters in national polls. First up is a new survey from Gallup that shows a 7 point jump in his support, and noticible declines for former Speaker Newt Gingrich and Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX):

• Mitt Romney: 24%
• Sarah Palin: 16%
• Herman Cain: 9%
• Ron Paul: 7%
• Tim Pawlenty: 6%
• Rick Santorum: 6%
• Michele Bachmann: 5%
• Newt Gingrich: 5%
• Gary Johnson: 2%
• Jon Huntsman: 1%
• Rick Perry: 1%
• Other: 1%
• Undecided: 18%

CNN also has a new poll out, though with slightly different dynamics since they included Rudy Giuliani, who is reportedly considering a presidential bid. Unsurprisingly, the opted not to poll former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson. Like Gallup, the CNN poll shows Romney in the lead, though Sarah Palin is not far behind:

• Mitt Romney: 24%
• Sarah Palin: 20%
• Rudy Giuliani: 12%
• Herman Cain: 10%
• Newt Gingrich: 10%
• Ron Paul: 7%
• Michele Bachmann: 4%
• Tim Pawlenty: 3%
• Jon Huntsman: 1%
• Rick Santorum 1%

A review of 10 polls by Real Clear Politics shows Romney ahead by 5.2 points over the other prospective Republican candidates. As I said last week, I expect more establishment types to coalesce around his candidacy since they will increasingly view it as his “turn.”

In these troubled economic times, there’s been a stronger movement towards privatizing Social Security than I can recall seeing before.  The most talked about proposal involves people aged 55 and younger being able to invest money instead of being roped into whatever Uncle Sam wants to pay out.  Now, there’s legislation making a move towards privatization of social security:

House Republicans on Friday introduced legislation that would allow workers to partially opt out of Social Security immediately, and fully opt out after 15 years.

Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas), who chairs the National Republican Congressional Committee, and several other Republicans introduced the Savings Account for Every American (SAFE) Act. Under the bill, workers would immediately have 6.2 percent of their wages sent to a “SAFE” account each year.

That would take the place of the 6.2 percent the workers now contributed to Social Security.

Another 6.2% is sent to Social Security by employers. Under the Sessions bill, employers would continue to make this matching contribution to Social Security, but after 15 years, employers could also send that amount to the employee’s SAFE account.

Now, I’m still not thrilled about the idea of taking people’s money “for their own good”, which is all either Social Security or these new proposal really are.  However, if it’s going to happen anyways, I’d rather have an opportunity to have some kind of say in the matter and possibly create an even better cushion.  Not everyone seems to think that’s such a good idea (predictable):