Michael Barone's Final Prediction: Romney Beats Obama, Handily

Michael Barone is the Gold Standard when it comes to political analysis. He knows the political landscape right down to the precinct level.

I can't think of anyone I'd rather have making this prediction at this point in time.

Fundamentals usually prevail in American elections. That’s bad news for Barack Obama. True, Americans want to think well of their presidents, and many think it would be bad if Americans were perceived as rejecting the first black president.

But it’s also true that most voters oppose Obama’s major policies and consider the very sluggish economic recovery unsatisfactory — Friday’s job report showed an unemployment uptick.

Also, both national and target-state polls show that independents — voters who don’t identify themselves as Democrats or Republicans — break for Romney.

That might not matter if Democrats outnumbered Republicans by 39 to 32 percent, as they did in the 2008 exit poll. But just about every indicator suggests that Republicans are more enthusiastic about voting — and about their candidate — than they were in 2008, and Democrats are less so.

That’s been apparent in early and absentee voting, where Democrats trail their 2008 numbers in target states Virginia, Ohio, Iowa, and Nevada.