Obama the ‘friendly’ one – poll

AS THE GENERAL election landscape became more certain Tuesday, a new poll showed President Obama with an edge over Mitt Romney of greater than 2 to 1 on the issue of personal traits.

The President proved to be far superior to the button-downed GOP challenger in terms of friendliness and likability — 64% to 26% — a Washington POST-ABC News poll found.

But the poll of 1,103 people by telephone last week also showed that the campaign’s central issue — the economy — is still very much a cause for concern for Obama.

Romney, a former head of a private equity firm, enjoyed a 12-point edge due to a perception that he would do a better job of addressing the staggeringly high federal deficit.

Obama, however, came in with a double-digit lead over the former Massachusetts governor in eight categories — including addressing women’s issues (53% to 44%), representing the middle class (49% to 39%) and confronting health care issues (48% to 38%).

On the biggest issue, however, the poll found that if the election were held today, Obama would w win, 51% to 44%.

Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, said the poll showed nothin ing the Romney campaign doesn’t a already know — and said the Republican needs an economic nosedive to prevail.

“That’s the only way Romney c could win, but he’s never going to b be better liked,” Sabato said.