CHARLOTTE, N.C. – One of the big debates over the past weeks has been over whether Mitt Romney is using the race card against President Obama in an ad hitting the president for changing the 1996 welfare reform law that requires recipients to work for the money.
On Tuesday, Obama’s pollster Joel Benenson seemed to put an end to the debate when he refused to join with those who see race-baiting by the Romney campaign. “I have no idea if they are playing the race card,” he said if the GOP was using it. What’s more, he said that the ad is not moving white voters away from Obama.
At a breakfast hosted by National Journal and the Atlantic, Benenson also said that Obama has tried to avoid using his race in the election. “We are going to win this election based on the merits, based on who he is, based on what he is doing for working average Americans,” said Benenson.
But other Democratic pollsters in the room didn’t agree. Three said Romney was using race to drive white voters from Obama. John Anzalone, Celinda Lake, and Margie Omero, all said that Romney was using the welfare ad as a wedge issue to split voters racially. “They are trying to touch a nerve,” said Anzalone.
