Presidential polls going to be a close race: Obama campaign

Washington: US President Barack Obama’s speech at Democratic National Convention was well received by Americans, a top Obama advisor said yesterday, but acknowledged that the November presidential election is going to be very close. “I think the President’s speech was extremely well-received by American people. We’re not as interested so much in what the pundit gallery has to say. And, you know, some pundits have said good things about the president’s speech,” David Plouffe, senior advisor to Obama told the CBS news in an interview. “We thought the President’s speech met the American people exactly where they’re living. You know, tell us where we are and how do we move forward with a middle class economic strategy that’s really going to grow the economy and enhance middle class security,” he said. [caption id=“attachment_449687” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Will Obama win a second term? AP[/caption] But, he said that the Democratic National Convention is unlikely to see any major bounce for Obama. “This is a close race…. so you’re not going to see — well, you know, you’re not going to see huge swings. I think we definitely are going to help ourselves in terms of turnout. I think Obama supporters are very energised. I think independent voters, what they saw from the President, from President Clinton, and other speakers was a plan to move forward,” Plouffe said. Responding to the Republican allegations that the economy is in a bad shape, Plouffe said the US President has a plan to move the economy. “Everybody understands we’re in a tough economy. That seems to be the Republican message. They just keep on talking about a tough economy. The president has got a plan to move us forward and continue to recover. What they heard from the Republicans was the same old failed recipes,” he said. “We have always assumed that presidential elections in our country tend to be very close. We don’t think this one is going to be any exception. We think it’s going to be very close in eight or so states. But we think in the battlegrounds states right now, in Ohio, in Virginia, in Colorado, in Florida, where we are today, we have got a small but important lead. And we think that was enhanced coming out of both of our conventions,” Plouffe said. PTI