A new Pew Research survey finds President Obama now leads Mitt Romney nationally by eight points among likely voters, 51% to 43%.

“Not only does Obama enjoy a substantial lead in the horserace, he tops
Romney on a number of key dimensions. His support is stronger than his
rival’s, and is positive rather than negative. Mitt Romney’s backers are
more ardent than they were pre-convention, but are still not as
enthusiastic as Obama’s. Roughly half of Romney’s supporters say they
are voting against Obama rather than for the Republican nominee.”

A new Marquette Law School Poll in Wisconsin finds Tammy Baldwin (D) has taken the lead over Tommy Thompson (R) in the U.S. Senate race, 50% to 41%.

Last month, the results were reversed with Thompson ahead 50% to 41%.

However, a New York Times/CBS News/Quinnipiac poll released earlier today found the race tied.

Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV) became the third GOP Senate candidate taking Mitt Romney to task for his “47 percent” remarks made on a hidden camera video. Heller told Politico he doesn’t “view the world the same way” as Romney.

Said Heller: “You got to understand, I grew up with five brothers and sisters. My father was an automechanic. My mother was a school cook. I just don’t view the world the same way he does.”

Yesterday, Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) and Connecticut U.S. Senate candidate Linda McMahon (R) criticized Romney for his comments.

A new Economist/YouGov poll finds 81% of President Obama’s supporters expect he will win in November while just 56% of Mitt Romney voters think their candidate will.

Meanwhile, 83% of those who plan to vote to re-elect Obama say their vote is for him rather than a vote against Romney. In contrast, half of Romney supporters aren’t voting for the GOP candidate, but rather casting a ballot against Obama.

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL), “who has been on a medical leave of absence for three months, has put his Victorian-style townhouse in Washington, D.C. on the market for $2.5 million,” the Chicago Tribune reports.

Jackson recently left the Mayo Clinic where he was treated for bipolar disorder but has not yet returned to his job.

“For all we know, Mitt Romney could be one of those who paid no federal income tax.”

— Sen. Harry Reid, in a speech on the Senate floor today.

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BuzzFeed finds an amazing 1962 video in which Lenore Romney talks about why her husband George would be a good governor of Michigan in part because he was once “on relief — welfare relief — for the first years of his life.”

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A new Washington Post poll finds Tim Kaine (D) has opened up a clear lead over George Allen (R) for the first time in their U.S. Senate race, 51% to 43%.

A new New York Times/CBS News/Quinnipiac poll also shows Kaine with a decent lead, 51% to 44%.

The Week looks at four ways he might defuse the crisis that threatens to derail his campaign.

A new Maine People’s Resource Center poll finds Angus King (I) is maintaining a sizable lead over Charlie Summers (R) and Cynthia Dill (D) in the U.S. Senate race.

King leads with with 44%, followed by Summers at 28% and Dill at 15%.

A new Public Policy Polling survey finds King leading with 43%, followed by Summers at 35% and Dill at 14%.

The Economist: “Historically it has been the Democrats, not the Republicans, who were viewed as a loose collection of interest groups rather than a cohesive movement. (Hence Will Rogers famous joke: ‘I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat.’) If you went to the parties’ conventions, it was clear from the delegate demographics that the GOP is still more culturally cohesive than the Democrats. Republicans are basically one group — suburban and rural white Christians who are mostly middle class and wealthy — while Democrats are a disparate bunch.”

“But ideologically, and in terms of their economic interests, the Democrats are actually more unified.”

The Week puts together five signs for Mitt Romney and his supporters to feel optimistic about their chances in the November election.

Amy Walter: “Almost every candidate has a rough patch. But, the ones that pull out of them have one thing in common: candidate skill. It’s what got Bill Clinton through Paula Jones and Obama through Jeremiah Wright. Romney, however, just doesn’t have those kinds of skills. A speech, a press conference or series of rallies isn’t going to help. In fact, it’s more likely to hurt. Instead, he’s going to need an event — planned or unexpected — to turn around his fortunes.”

The latest AP-GfK poll shows President Obama barely edging Mitt Romney nationally among likely voters, 47% to 46%.

Key finding: “The poll results vividly underscore the importance that turnout will
play in determining the victor in Campaign 2012: Among all adults, Obama
has a commanding lead, favored by 52 percent of Americans to just 37
percent for Romney. Yet among those most likely to vote, the race is
drum tight.”

The Reuters/Ipsos poll shows Obama ahead by four points, 47% to 43%.

Mark Halperin: “Make no mistake, the President still has a major and vital advantage in the Electoral College. For Mitt Romney to win, he is going to need to triumph in states where he is now behind and even some local Republicans say victory seems a reach. Given recent state public and private polling, it is worth asking: Can Romney get to 270 without winning Ohio or Virginia, two states previously thought of as must-wins, but where Obama seems to have a solid lead.”

Peggy Noonan: “I think there is a broad and growing feeling now, among Republicans, that this thing is slipping out of Romney’s hands.”

John McCormack: “The reason such remarks keep slipping out of Mitt Romney’s mouth is not
that Romney wants to wage a class war against lower-income Americans.
The likely problem is that Mitt Romney is not a conservative–or at
least wasn’t a conservative until late in life–but he is running for
president as the nominee of the conservative party on a conservative
platform. So he has trouble defending conservative ideas. And when he
sells himself to conservatives, he sometimes comes across as a
right-wing caricature.”

The Democratic super PAC Priorities USA Action uses footage from the now infamous hidden camera video to hit Mitt Romney on his 47% line.

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