Heading into the presidential debate, Mitt Romney was trailing President Obama in the polls. Obama was ahead a few points but it should have been a larger margin. After the conventions the president should have put his foot on the gas not ease off and coast to election.

In a poll conducted by Quinnipiac University, The New York Times and CBS News, Obama was leading in all but one category — the budget deficit. The poll was completed in three states, with 4,153 people interviewed. Two of the states are battleground states, Florida and Ohio, with Pennsylvania as the third. But according to the poll there isn’t much of a battle.

During the 60 Minutes interview with Mitt Romney he said his campaign “doesn’t need a turnaround” and that he is “tied with an incumbent president.” Granted, the interview aired Sept. 23 and this New York Times poll was published Sept. 26 but as a presidential candidate he should know — or have people to know — how close he really is to the other candidate.

There were 11 categories in the poll, and as said above Obama led in all but one. According to the poll voters just don’t like Mitt Romney. Maybe it has to deal with his bone head remarks or how distant he is from the average voter, or maybe voters are still recovering from George Bush and don’t want to go back to him.

The big issues were covered of course, mainly health care and the economy. In all three states the president led his opponent with 51 percent when it came to the question “who would do a better job on the economy?” When asked the same about health care and Medicare Obama led again.

Even though there is still time before the election Obama is acting as if he already has it won, which he does — as long as he stays quiet while Romney continues to stick his foot in his mouth. This poll and others like it have shown that the president has been safer than what some Republicans want to believe.

Look back at the candidates running for the Republican nomination. There wasn’t one that stood out for good reasons, plus the entire party doesn’t support Mitt. As Frank Bruni of The New York Times puts it, “How did someone so politically maladroit — a cardboard cutout crossed with an Etch A Sketch — get this far?”
Maybe Ron Paul would have been a better candidate in hindsight.

On the other side, no one attempted to challenge Obama so he has the whole of the Democratic Party behind him. It is hard to get voters interested when your own party doesn’t fully support you.
Romney has been trying to convince himself he could be president since the primaries. He might have looked strong while the other possible choices were going about their own antics, but when he won the nomination he began to lose. He is still trying to convince himself with only a little over a month before election day.
Romney is confident though, during his 60 Minutes interview he said, “I’m going to win this thing.”

Confidence is one thing, but blind confidence is another. It will be very interesting to see what happens in the next few weeks.