Democrats opened their convention in Charlotte, N.C., today with the vision of keeping President Obama in the White House, but they were hit the news that a new poll found his popularity among women in a tailspin and the national debt has zoomed past $16 trillion.
Obama's personal popularity has dropped 7 percentage points since April, according to an ABCNews/Washington Post poll released tonight.
The decline has occurred entirely among women voters, a core constituency and one which he has courted in recent weeks by accusing his Republican challengers of carrying out a "war on women."
For the first time since taking office, more women rated the president unfavorable than favorable, according to the poll.
The survey also found Obama to have the lowest personal popularity overall of any incumbent president going into a convention since the 1980s. Just 47 percent of registered voters rate Obama "favorably," while 49 percent of respondents rate him unfavorably, the poll found.
The good news for Obama is that Republican rival Mitt Romney did even worse in a similar poll last week. Among all Americans, 40 percent now see Romney favorably, 47 percent unfavorably.
Charles Dharapak/AP Photo
Michelle Obama's DNC Speech to Court Women Voters
Watch Video Obama's much more popular wife, first lady Michele Obama will address the convention and the nation tonight in a prime time speech that will likely target women voters.
On a night that Democrats hoped to reignite voters' ardor as the race enters its homestretch, Obama finds himself up against series of difficult roadblocks.
In addition to the dismal poll numbers, perhaps an even more insurmountable figure was released today. The Treasury Department announced that the national debt reached $16 trillion, a number Republicans quickly seized on and laid at Obama's feet.
The party this week will put forward its best and brightest stars, from stalwarts like former president Bill Clinton to tonight's primetime keynote speaker, San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro. They will all push the same message: President Obama will more quickly and more humanely fix the ailing economy than the Republicans.
Castro, the youngest mayor of a major American city, is expected to hammer Romney for being out of touch and favoring the wealthy at the expense of the middle class.
Moreover, Castro is expected to appeal to Latino voters, another important and divided bloc that Obama is actively courting.
"Republicans tell us that if the most prosperous among us do even better, that somehow the rest of us will too. Folks...we've heard that before," Castro is expected to say according to released excerpts of his speech.
"Either way, their theory has been tested. It failed. Our economy failed. The middle class paid the price. Your family paid the price. Mitt Romney just doesn't get it," he will say.
Castro credits Obama with saving the country from financial ruin four years ago, a direct response to Romney's latest line of attack, asking voters if they're better off today than they were four years ago.
"Four years ago, America stood on the brink of a Depression. Despite incredible odds and united Republican opposition, our president took action. And now we've seen 4.5 million new jobs," Castro will say.
Castro said voters have to chose between a country where "where the middle class pays more, so that millionaires can pay less... Or a country where everybody pays their fair share."
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