Presidency
By Eric Ostermeier on January 16, 2013
The favorite news outlet of conservatives ranks just ninth in presser questions in Obama's first term, getting to ask questions at only half the rate of the Big 3 broadcast networks.
By Eric Ostermeier on December 27, 2012
A look back at a few of the most illuminating, odd, and controversial reports published by Smart Politics this year.
By Eric Ostermeier on December 4, 2012
The Romney-Obama contest ranked among the Top 5 most competitive races ever in three states (AK, FL, NC) and the Top 5 least competitive in six (HI, MD, OK, UT, WV, WY).
By Eric Ostermeier on December 3, 2012
States have voted more frequently for a presidential nominee of a different party than its sitting governor across 600 contests since 1968; even more so in battleground states.
By Eric Ostermeier on November 28, 2012
Ohio has been the most politically divided state in the country in presidential elections for the last 184 years - boasting the lowest average victory margin and the largest number and percentage of races decided by less than five points.
By Eric Ostermeier on November 26, 2012
With only four Democratic U.S. Representatives elected from Ohio in 2012, the Buckeye State is sending the smallest number and percentage of allies of a newly-elected president to D.C. in state history.
By Eric Ostermeier on November 19, 2012
The 2012 presidential election is the only cycle since the birth of the two-party system in 1828 to be decided by less than 15 points nationally and yet have less than 10 percent of its contests decided by fewer than five points.
By Eric Ostermeier on November 14, 2012
Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are not alone in failing to carry their home states this election cycle, although theirs is the first such ticket in 40 years.
By Eric Ostermeier on November 12, 2012
Minnesota joins Virginia as the only states with 10+ consecutive cycle stretches backing Democratic and Republican presidential nominees in state history.
By Eric Ostermeier on November 7, 2012
Only John Frémont in 1856 lost his home state by a larger margin than Romney out of 100+ major party presidential nominees on the ballot since the formation of the Democratic Party in 1828.
By Eric Ostermeier on November 5, 2012
All eyes on Virginia, Florida, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania...you know the rest...
By Eric Ostermeier on November 5, 2012
Obama set the all-time Democratic presidential statewide victory margin marks in Delaware and Vermont (and D.C.) four years ago.
By Eric Ostermeier on November 1, 2012
A dozen media outlets still yield 10 different battleground state maps less than a week from Election Day, with an average of nine states and 114 electoral votes hanging in the balance.
By Eric Ostermeier on October 30, 2012
Since 1824, Kentucky and Maryland have each hosted the closest statewide presidential contests five times; Ohio last did so in back-to-back cycles in 1944 and 1948.
By Eric Ostermeier on October 29, 2012
After more than 640 polls, 531,000 individuals have been surveyed this cycle about the Romney-Obama horserace across the 57.3 million voting eligible population of the 10 main battleground states.
By Eric Ostermeier on October 24, 2012
Ronald Reagan talked about bayonets more than twice as frequently as any other president; most presidential rhetoric casts the weapon as a symbol for tyranny and unjust force.
By Eric Ostermeier on October 23, 2012
Only Strom Thurmond (1948, 54 years) and Alf Landon (1936, 50 years) lived longer after losing a presidential election.
By Eric Ostermeier on October 18, 2012
The most basic branch of mathematics has been celebrated, indicted, and used as a political weapon by the presidency for nearly 150 years.
By Eric Ostermeier on October 17, 2012
Romney rattles off only four of his patented series of bullet-point answers at the Hofstra debate versus 10 in Denver.
By Eric Ostermeier on October 11, 2012
Two-thirds of battleground state maps have changed over the past month, yielding 10 different maps across 12 different media outlets.
