OBAMA, PERRY, BACHMANN AND PAUL SEEN AS EXTREMISTS

Poll shows that of the presidential contenders - and that includes Obama - only Mitt Romney is not seen as an extremist.

OBAMA HOLDS MORE EXTREME VIEWS THAN HIS BIBLE-THUMPING RIVAL RICK PERRY, SAY VOTERS
By Duncan MacPherson

Mail Online
September 9, 2011

More than two out of five American voters believe Barack Obama is an extremist.

Forty-four per cent of those surveyed said the US president held extreme views, compared with 36 per cent saying the same of Texas Governor Rick Perry, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination.

But exactly the same proportions of those polled - 44 per cent and 36 per cent respectively for Obama and Perry, who rejects evolution in favour of creationism - considered each man to be a moderate. The remainder were undecided in a telephone poll of 1,000 voters by Rasmussen on Tuesday.

A year ago, 48 per cent of voters said the president was mainstream, against 42 per cent who labelled him an extremist.

Last night President Obama unveiled a $450billion plan to ease the unemployment crisis which has left 9 per cent of Americans jobless - and to save his job when the country goes to the ballot box in November next year.

But Republican presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann last night claimed Mr Obama's approach was merely more 'failed gimmicks.'

Another 2012 Republican presidential contender, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, is seen as more moderate than both Obama and Perry.

Forty-eight per cent believe he is mainstream and 26 per cent say he is an extremist.

Michele Bachmann, a favourite of the conservative Tea Party movement, is described as extreme by 51 per cent, compared with 27 per cent who say she is mainstream.

Her ratings have slumped from 16 per cent to 8 per cent in recent weeks and she has lost her second place in the Republican presidential race to Romney.

Her fellow Republican and presidential nomination candidate Ron Paul is viewed as extreme by 52 per cent and moderate by just 17 per cent.

The margin of error on the Rasmussen poll is 3 percentage points.