By Tribune-Review

Published: Monday, September 24, 2012, 9:32 p.m.
Updated: Tuesday, February 19, 2013

As autumn's leaves flutter and fall, so, too, does President Barack Obama's lead over Mitt Romney among Pennsylvania voters.

A survey conducted for the Trib by Susquehanna Polling & Research finds the Democrat incumbent in a statistical tie with the Republican challenger, 47 percent to 45 percent, with a margin of error of 3.46 percentage points.

Like a castle in the sand, Mr. Obama's “record” — particularly on matters economic — cannot withstand the incoming tide of public opinion as voters post-Labor Day turn their attention to the presidential election. Two national polls also released Sunday mirror the Trib poll results.

For any incumbent president, these findings would send a distress signal. And yet the mainstream media, parroting a Democrat talking point, insist it's Mr. Romney's campaign that's in trouble when all indications point to the opposite:

• An economy that added only 96,000 jobs in August, down from an average of 226,000 jobs per month from January to March.

• A foreign policy torn asunder by attacks on U.S. embassies in the Middle East and the despicable murder by terrorists of a U.S. ambassador and three others, followed by the Obama administration fumbling badly to get its story straight.

• And now, renewed warnings of a double-dip recession.

Of course, the only “poll” that matters is the one that occurs in 42 days. For Team Obama, the only “gap” that's widening is its credibility with voters.

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