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You are here: Home / 2012 Campaign / Why Romney Thought He Would Win

Why Romney Thought He Would Win

November 30, 2012 at 7:02 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

The New Republic obtained the final internal polling numbers from Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign for six key states, along with
additional breakdowns of the data, which were prepared by the
campaign’s chief pollster, Neil Newhouse.

“The first thing you notice is that New Hampshire and Colorado are pretty
far off the mark. In New Hampshire, the final internal polling average
has Romney up 3.5 points, whereas he lost by 5.6. In Colorado, the final
internal polling average has Romney up 2.5 points; he lost by 5.4… The Iowa number is also questionable, showing the
race tied even though Romney ended up losing by almost 6 points.”

“Together, New Hampshire, Colorado, and Iowa go most of the way toward
explaining why the Romney campaign believed it was so well-positioned. When combined with North Carolina, Florida, and Virginia–the trio of
states the Romney campaign assumed were largely in the bag–Romney would
bank 267 electoral votes, only three shy of the magic number.”

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About Political Wire

Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

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