Unhappy swing state voters shift away from Obama

US PRESIDENT Barack Obama visited a changed New Hampshire yesterday.

The independent-minded presidential swing state he won in 2008 has shifted distinctly to the right since his last visit nearly two years ago. The local economy is struggling to grow and voters are increasingly unhappy with the president’s leadership.

“He’s not getting my vote — no way,” said construction worker Norman Berube, a 49-year-old registered independent. “This country is worse off.”

Others reiterate the same.

Recent polls show that if the election were held today, Obama would lose by roughly 10% to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, the leading contender for that party’s nomination. That’s quite a slide for an incumbent who beat Republican senator John McCain here by nearly the same margin just three years ago.

Romney unveiled his first TV ad of the election cycle yesterday in New Hampshire, kicking off a major media push in the state.

The 60-second TV spot ignores Romney’s primary opponents and strikes directly against Obama, which the Republican camp hoped would cause maximum embarrassment for the president during his visit.

Still, a year before Obama’s re-election, Demo-crats aren’t panicking.

In fact, Obama’s campaign is quietly confident that he can re-ignite voters’ passion the more they see him, which explains why Obama ventured to Central High School to promote elements of his jobs plan that has stalled in a divided Congress.

His visit comes just as a special deficit-reduction super-committee in Washington is on the brink of failing to reach an agreement on how to save taxpayers $1.2 trillion over the coming decade.

A fundamental divide over how much to raise taxes — a salient issue in low-tax New Hampshire — was proving too high a hurdle to overcome.

With finger pointing beginning in Washington, Obama headed to New Hampshire, as Republican candidates wielding anti-Obama messages swarm the state ahead of the January 10 presidential primary.