Post-Debate, Obama Maintains Lead Among Likely Ohio Voters, According to New CallFire/NGP VAN Poll

Among Registered Voters, President Ahead by 5 Points

COLUMBUS, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)--According to a new post-debate CallFire/NGP VAN poll in the crucial swing state of Ohio, Barack Obama leads Mitt Romney among registered voters by a margin of 49 to 44 percent. Among “likely” voters, the president holds a 50 percent to 46 percent edge over his Republican rival.

“In partnership with NGP VAN and using its field survey tools, CallFire is now able to obtain salient data and voter feedback about political races at the national, state and local levels, including the presidential election”

The poll, conducted this week via cell phones and landlines, reached out to 946 registered voters and 678 self-described “likely” voters throughout the state. Of the total sample, 39 percent of “likely” voters identified with the Democratic Party, 34 percent with the Republican Party, and 26 percent listed themselves as “independent.” Among registered voters, 38 percent identified with the Democratic Party, 34 percent with the G.O.P. and 27 percent with a third party. The margin of error among registered voters is +/- 3.1 percent; among likely voters, the margin is +/- 3.4 percent.

CallFire (callfire.com), a leader in voice and text communication solutions that help companies and organizations grow, teamed with NGP VAN (ngpvan.com), the technology provider used by virtually every Democratic candidate and progressive organization conducting a field campaign, including President Obama’s organization.

In addition to the overarching question of presidential preference by the sample population, the CallFire/NGP VAN poll probed various issues and attitudes among Ohio voters:

• When asked which issues are most critical to this presidential election, respondents ranked the “economy and jobs” at the top of the list (59 percent), followed by “the deficit” (12 percent), “healthcare” (12 percent), “the environment” (5 percent), and “terrorism” (4 percent).
• When asked, “Do you think you are personally better off today than you were at the end of George W. Bush’s term?” 41 percent of “likely” voters answered “better off” and 44 percent answered “worse.” Among registered voters, 43 percent responded “better off,” while 42 percent answered “worse.”
• When asked to assess responsibility for “being obstructive to the economic recovery,” registered voters and “likely” voters agreed, albeit by differing margins. Some 42 percent of “likely” voters put the onus on “Republicans in Congress,” while 37 percent blamed the Obama Administration. Among registered voters, 43 percent cited congressional Republicans, 35 percent the Administration.
• In response to the question, “Do you think that President Obama’s medical reforms will ultimately raise, lower, or leave medical costs unaffected?” 51 percent of both “likely” and registered voters said that it will raise costs.

As the campaign enters its final month, candidates and issue campaigns across the U.S. are using the CallFire/NGP VAN platform, now fully integrated to provide reliable, affordable voice communications and constituent outreach. These campaigns are currently conducting voter identification and persuasion, grassroots fundraising, rally crowd building, volunteer recruitment, get out the vote (GOTV), and other activities.

In addition to fueling campaign outreach to voters across the U.S. and in the key swing states, such as Ohio, the two companies have also partnered to conduct a series of surveys during October. These surveys measure voter pulse points and offer a broader “voice” to the public through CallFire’s telephony-based communications that are helping to “democratize” and mobilize American voters in an entirely new way.

“In partnership with NGP VAN and using its field survey tools, CallFire is now able to obtain salient data and voter feedback about political races at the national, state and local levels, including the presidential election,” said Dinesh Ravishanker, CEO of CallFire. “This survey capability is able to elicit insights from voters – such as the recent presidential pulse sampling among respondents in Ohio – among the various campaigns and candidates that we represent for a fraction of the cost and on a much broader scale than ever before possible. This information offers a valuable snapshot of the state of voter opinion during a time when every potential ballot selection cast will weigh heavily on the outcome of presidential election and other key races in November.”

Seated at the intersection of technology and politics, these telephony-driven voter surveys are a part of the spectrum of offerings from CallFire and NGP VAN. But they represent just a fraction of the grassroots juggernaut in play this fall. Through its state-of the art telephony-based voice and text communications services, CallFire is able to offer the same voter outreach tools, available to the Obama campaign, to thousands of other national, state and local campaigns.

Some 1,700 local and state candidate and issue-oriented political campaigns have used the CallFire platform since the company’s founding in 2007. The technology enables campaigns to create and distribute voice messages, simultaneously dial thousands of calls per minute and obtain near-instantaneous feedback from potential voters. CallFire is just one example of the new technologies that are transforming the way political campaigns across the nation now connect and engage with targeted voters. “The clear impact of these technologies on the modern political process is one area that’s ‘un-debatable’ this election season,” Ravishanker said.

About CallFire

Based in Santa Monica, Calif., CallFire (callfire.com) simplifies telephony, making sophisticated, expensive carrier class telecom capabilities available through an affordable, easy-to-use GUI and API platform. Any business, from start-up to enterprise, can reach its customers on any device, over voice or text, using CallFire’s massively scalable, cloud telecom platform. CallFire products include Voice APIs, Business Text Messaging, Voice Broadcast, Local Phone Numbers, Call Tracking, IVR, Power Dialing for agents and more. Call analytics enable CallFire’s 50,000 users to reach customers more often using text marketing, virtual numbers, auto dialers and mobile messaging.

About NGP VAN

NGP VAN (ngpvan.com) is the leading technology provider to Democratic and progressive campaigns and organizations, offering clients an integrated platform of the best fundraising, field, and new media products. NGP VAN counts thousands of campaigns and organizations amongst its clients, including President Obama’s reelection, all the national Democratic committees, thousands of Democratic campaigns, and hundreds of labor unions, progressive and non-partisan PACs, and other organizations.