Obama leads Romney on foreign policy

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Voters believe

President Barack Obama has a significant edge over Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney when it comes to international affairs according to recent polling, which is a surprising development considering the GOP has been perceived as stronger on defense in every election since the Vietnam era. According to a Quinnipiac survey released on Thursday more Americans trust

Obama over Romney on foreign policy matters by a 46 to 40 margin while last week’s Washington Post-ABC poll showed Obama with a commanding 17 point lead on this issue. A solid majority of experts believe President Barack Obama’s foreign policy record will boost his reelection bid according to the National Journal Insiders Poll published two weeks ago.Polls also indicate that the economy and job creation are Romney strong suits while overall figures show a tight race, with the lead fluctuating by the day. Based on these results it seems logical for Romney to make the economy the centerpiece of his campaign strategy, yet he continues to hammer Obama for being weak on global leadership. Some experts believe Romney ought to avoid discussing foreign policy issues because he has a record of flip-flopping while some of his stances seem downright outlandish, including his decision to peg Russia as America’s number one geopolitical enemy. An area of weakness Romney could exploit is Afghanistan, but it is hard to determine how Romney’s position differs from the president’s. Romney has blasted Obama for ignoring the advice of the generals and withdrawing troops from Afghanistan too quickly – a stance that runs counter to national sentiment. Public support for maintaining troops in Afghanistan has reached a new low per a Pew research survey that came out on Thursday. Just 32% of the public believes the U.S. should keep troops in Afghanistan until the situation stabilizes, while 60% favor removing the troops as soon as possible. One Romney advisor claimed the former governor prefers “peace through strength” rather than just managing the gradual decline of the nation’s military. However, this will be hard for many voters to swallow given that the Obama administration spent approximately $895 billion on defense in 2011, 40% more than the Bush regime spent at its peak in 2008. It will also be difficult for Romney to portray Obama as weak on defense considering he quadrupled the size of Bush’s drone program; he had a U.S. citizen living abroad assassinated for being a terrorist; and he authorized the bombardment of Libya. Not to mention, it was during Obama’s reign that the U.S. finally eliminated the world’s most wanted terrorist, a feat the Obama campaign is already leveraging. During a campaign stop in Romney’s native home state of Michigan the president bragged about a specific change many wouldn’t have associated with candidate Obama four years ago: