A recent Gallup Poll shows that nine percent of ’08 Obama voters are supporting Mitt Romney for president this year.
At the rally Tuesday in Lakewood, Colo., for Paul Ryan, Romney’s V.P. pick, we talked to a woman who illustrates why the Obama re-election effort is struggling with voters in swing states such as Colorado.
She told us after the on-camera interview that she is a single, suburban professional who lives in Arapahoe County, a key battleground. Here’s the Q&A [see video above] as she walked into the Ryan event at Lakewood High School.
QUESTION: “Did you vote in 2008?”
ANSWER: “Yes, I did.”
Q: “Did you support, or vote for, Barack Obama?”
A: “I did.”
Q: “What are your thoughts about health care and where we are with the new Health Care Law?”
A: “I think that it’s going to be very problematic. I think that a lot of people are looking at it, as, especially on the Democratic side, they’re looking at it more as a helpful, [that] it’s going to be helpful for them but it’s actually going to be a tax increase, especially for people who have health insurance.”
—
Q: “Would you support paying additional taxes to pay for ObamaCare and other entitlement programs?
A: “No, I am not for entitlement programs. So, I think I pay enough as it is. Again, when I, you know, I work every day. I get up and I, you know, do what I have to do. And it seems like I’m paying for other people – to probably some people for not doing anything and then some people who are having problems. Some people do deserve some of the entitlement programs, but why should I as a taxpayer have to pay additional taxes for others?”
She told me afterward she had been a longtime registered Democrat, albeit a “moderate.” She said her disappointment with the Obama agenda of increased taxes and more entitlement spending led her to switch parties and register Republican.
I phoned her after the Ryan rally to ask what she thought. She described him as “dynamic” and described a mindset that – if pervasive among swing voters – could tip the presidential election in Colorado.
Ryan “got everyone enthusiastic about his and Mitt Romney’s plan to strengthen the middle class. It’s a real plan that calls for energy development, job training, entitlement reform, less regulations for small businesses, and 12 million new jobs. I know it won’t be easy, but I came out with new hope,” she said.
