Fox News poll: Obama leads Romney in presidential race and on a broad array of issues and character traits

As I’ve said here on numerous occasions, my favorite polls usually are those sponsored by Fox News — simply because conservatives can’t so easily shoot them down as politically biased.

Fox, like other major media outfits, hires a reputable, independent polling organization to conduct its surveys. The methods employed are scientific and time-tested. The results may not always please the talking heads on Fox News Channel, but that only bespeaks their reliability.

The latest Fox poll is bad news for Mitt Romney in many more ways than simply Barack Obama’s lead of five percentage points in the presidential race. To wit, the incumbent Democrat also leads his Republican challenger in the following categories among likely voters:

–Favorable vs. unfavorable opinion;

–Handling foreign policy;

–Handling same-sex marriage;

–Demanding more from the country’s education system;

–Protecting Medicare and making sure it’s there for future generations;

–Handling health care;

–Protecting the U.S. from terrorist attacks;

–Being a strong negotiator with foreign leaders;

–Handling illegal immigration;

–Handling taxes;

–Making the country a better place to live;

–Taking the country in the right direction;

–Intelligence;

–Honesty;

–Steady leadership;

–Experience;

–Keeping promises;

–Working hard;

–Understanding American history;

–Moral values.

Perhaps my favorite part of this latest Fox poll is the one in which respondents were asked this question: If Barack Obama is re-elected as president, which of the following best describes your feelings?:

The country’s going down the drain and I am dreading what is going to happen in the next four years. (Forty-three percent of respondents chose this one.)

The country’s improving every day and I look forward to another four years. (Fifty percent of respondents chose this one.)

All the raw numbers in this poll are HERE.