A new poll conducted after presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s announcement of Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate has Mr. Romney trailing President Obama by just four points in Mr. Ryan’s home state, which Mr. Obama won by 14 points in 2008.
Forty-nine percent of registered voters favor Mr. Obama, while 45 percent opt for Mr. Romney, according to the new CNN/ORC poll.
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Of the four presidential and vice presidential candidates, Mr. Ryan enjoys the largest favorable/unfavorable split, at 18 points. Fifty percent of all respondents have a favorable opinion of Mr. Ryan, compared to 32 percent who have an unfavorable one. People give Mr. Obama a 54 percent favorability rating, compared to 42 percent who find him unfavorable.
Mr. Romney and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. are closer to an even split in that department. Forty-five percent have a favorable impression of Mr. Romney, compared to 42 percent who have an unfavorable opinion. Forty-four percent have a favorable view of Mr. Biden, compared to 39 percent who have an unfavorable one.
“One of the good reasons [that] you pick somebody is because they can change the policy debate and add something from a governing standpoint — you got a governor and a member of Congress,” former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty — who was on Mr. Romney’s veep shortlist himself — said Friday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “But here’s the bonus: you put Wisconsin in play, and that’s a state that perhaps otherwise would not have been in play but for Paul Ryan and he helps in the upper midwest, so there’s a lot of great reasons for Paul Ryan to be picked.”
The poll of 1,005 Wisconsin adults was conducted Aug. 13-14. The margin of error for both the total sample and of 920 interviews among registered voters is 3 percentage points.
