In a Politico/GW Battleground poll released today, voters are found to support President Obama the most on foreign policy issues. In all, the poll found Obama and Romney largely neck and neck.
Says Politico:
Obama’s biggest issue lead came on the issue of foreign policy: Obama had a 15-point advantage there, following Romney’s three-country foreign trip that earned him a number of bad headlines.
The gap concerning foreign policy is an interesting one.
To begin with, in 2008, one of the biggest criticisms of President Obama was his lack of foreign policy experience. In the Democratic primaries, Hillary Clinton ran an infamous "2 a.m. phone call" political ad questioning Obama's ability to handle an emergency. Instead, President Obama's handling of multiple foreign situations has been met with praise, or at the very least, make for good bragging points. Osama bin Laden, anyone?
With the selection of Rep. Paul Ryan as the Republican vice president candidate, the GOP ticket gains no foreign policy experience. The move will likely guarantee the next few months of the election rarely go off message, choosing Rep. Ryan focuses the presidential ticket on domestic economics, not foreign policy. Republicans will take any chance to move the conversation away from what the poll shows is President Obama's strong point.
With President Obama's foreign policy polling numbers so high, his Osama bin Laden trump card, and the lack of foreign policy experience for both Romney and Ryan, don't expect international issues to make up most of the national conversation through November.