Majority Of Voters Think Obama Will Win

A clear majority of Americans think the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama, will be re-elected to serve a second term this November. That's the opinion registered in the latest Gallup Poll. In the past, this poll has been pretty accurate -- giving Clinton the nod in 1996 and Bush in 2004. In 2000, the poll predicted Gore would win -- and he did get a majority of the vote (but did not carry the electoral college -- or the Supreme Court). Here is a breakdown of the numbers:

WHO DO YOU THINK WILL WIN THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION?

General Public
Obama...............56%
Romney...............36%

Independents
Obama...............58%
Romney...............31%

Democrats
Obama...............81%
Romney...............12%

Republicans
Obama...............24%
Romney...............68%

To me, this is both encouraging and frightening. It is encouraging because the general public and Independents agree with Democrats that the president will probably be re-elected. But it is frightening because when people believe an election has already been decided, too many of them will think their vote is not needed and they will skip going to the polls to vote. I hope that doesn't happen, because no election is over until all the votes have been counted -- and this one still could be close enough to make every single vote an important one.