SALON

Friday, Aug 31, 2012 1:33 AM UTC

ON THE ISSUES

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Topics: From the Wires,

Mitt Romney’s focus on jobs and the deficit in his acceptance speech plays to his strengths on the issues, while Thursday’s convention agenda seeks to shore up his weak points. The latest Associated Press-GfK poll finds him most competitive with Obama on fiscal matters. Among registered voters, he leads the president by 10 points as more trusted to handle the federal budget deficit, and holds narrow 4-point edges on creating jobs and handling the economy.

But Romney trails Obama by 15 points on handling social issues, and by 6 points on handling Medicare, a central focus of Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan’s congressional career.

The focus among Thursday night’s convention speakers on Romney’s personal and professional life could help to boost his personal image. Registered voters split evenly in their impressions of the former governor — 46 percent have a favorable impression, 46 percent an unfavorable one. That lags behind Obama’s 52 percent favorable to 46 percent unfavorable mark on this question.

Romney also trails the president on the question of which candidate is the stronger leader (50 percent Obama to 41 percent Romney) and is seen as less apt to understand average people’s problems (51 percent say Obama better understands compared with 36 percent Romney).

— Jennifer Agiesta — Twitter http://twitter.com/jennagiesta

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EDITOR’S NOTE — Convention Watch shows you the 2012 political conventions through the eyes of Associated Press journalists. Follow them on Twitter where available with the handles listed after each item.

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