Even Fox News Shows Mitt Romney 9% Behind President Obama

Beating a presidential incumbent is always hard.  Beating President Obama will be even harder.  Even Fox News shows this to be the case.

A new Fox News survey gives President Obama a 49%-40% lead over his Republican challenger, amid signs that Romney’s favorable ratings are falling; last month, the same poll gave Obama only a 45%-41% lead.

The Fox poll emerged right after CNN announced a 52%-45% lead for Obama in its latest survey.

“The events of the past two weeks appear to have energized Democratic voters a bit,” says Republican pollster Daron Shaw, who conducts the Fox News poll with Democratic pollster Chris Anderson.

“But perhaps more critically,” he added, “Romney’s support among independents has declined. The Obama campaign has — at least in the short term — succeeded in raising questions about Romney’s fitness to govern and in making this less of a referendum and more of a choice election.”