How would a President Romney be faring right now?

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Discuss.

[Lyin' Steve]

Depends how his administration went.  If he'd done the same job Obama did with the economy, he'd be invincible.  A large part of the conversation in 2012 revolved around high unemployment and whether it was possible to get it below 6%, right now it's below 5%.  Meanwhile the S&P 500 is up 46% from inauguration day 2013.

[Speed of Sound]

Yeah, I agree with Steve. Can you imagine Hillary's problems against incumbent Romney with this economy? He'd massacre her. And the one thing they had against Romney in 2012, his being a rich out of touch person, would hold zero weight.

[Devout Centrist]

Depends how his administration went.  If he'd done the same job Obama did with the economy, he'd be invincible.  A large part of the conversation in 2012 revolved around high unemployment and whether it was possible to get it below 6%, right now it's below 5%.  Meanwhile the S&P 500 is up 46% from inauguration day 2013.

In addition, it depends on how social issues are framed and how that all plays out.

But Romney would look very solid right now.

[Rules for me, but not for thee]

Unless he dumped Obamacare (or actually supported converting full to single-payer) then probably not much differently.

[evergreenarbor]

Safe Romney: 180 EVs
Likely Romney: 26 EVs
Lean Romney: 53 EVs
Tossups: 53 EVs
Lean Clinton: 25 EVs
Likely Clinton: 11 EVs
Safe Clinton: 190 EVs

Not a good map for Clinton, who would almost certainly lose to an incumbent Romney. I'm assuming that Ryan is still VP - Wisconsin would be Lean Clinton otherwise.

[Adam Griffin]

Yeah, I agree with Steve. Can you imagine Hillary's problems against incumbent Romney with this economy? He'd massacre her. And the one thing they had against Romney in 2012, his being a rich out of touch person, would hold zero weight.

And for those who couldn't understand why Bill was so enthusiastic about re-electing Obama in 2012 (despite having to deal in 2016 with the classic "omg the same party can't win three consecutive terms"), this is why.

[Mr. Smith]

Hillary wouldn't be the nominee,  so who knows.

[TarHeelDem]

Would Clinton have even ran this cycle or would she have waited until 2020? Whatever the case, might Sanders have ended up as the Democratic nominee? If so, how would he do against a hypothetical President Romney?

[Santander]

Better than Obama. I hate to admit it, but he was right about just about everything.

[Speed of Sound]

Would Clinton have even ran this cycle or would she have waited until 2020? Whatever the case, might Sanders have ended up as the Democratic nominee? If so, how would he do against a hypothetical President Romney?

A good question. I think an incumbent would have put a lot more focus on the economy, and Bernie's platform would have held up less strongly in that light. If they want a sacrificial lamb/mid candidate to throw at Romney, maybe it's O'Malley? The kind of guy that won't threaten the DNC's desired direction for the party like Sanders would. Maybe they go hawk to talk terrorism/global relations? But then the best choice would clearly be Hillary. I dunno.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Romney 291
Clinton 200
Tossup 47

[Fuzzy Bear]

Hillary wouldn't be the nominee,  so who knows.

This, definitely.

The Democrats would be nominating a real dark horse if Romney had won in 2000.  Or they would have run Biden.

[Kingpoleon]

212: Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan
206: Al Franken/Michelle Nunn

174: Likely/Safe R
38: Lean R
120: Tossup
39: Lean D
167: Likely/Safe D

[evergreenarbor]

Would Clinton have even ran this cycle or would she have waited until 2020? Whatever the case, might Sanders have ended up as the Democratic nominee? If so, how would he do against a hypothetical President Romney?

Safe Romney: 192 EVs
Likely Romney: 40 EVs
Lean Romney: 37 EVs
Tossups: 29 EVs
Lean Sanders: 10 EVs
Likely Sanders: 29 EVs
Safe Sanders: 201 EVs

Not well.

[GLPman]

A Romney win in 2012 would likely result in the Obama presidency being viewed as a failure, albeit not on the level of Carter. Consequently, members of Obama's cabinet and administration would likely either forgo running against President Romney in 2016, or would have trouble gaining traction against fresher faces. It's difficult seeing Clinton staying on the sidelines, especially since she views 2016 as her "time." Not sure if Sanders still throws his hat in the ring. There's also the possibility that Biden runs, but any potential run (or even win) seems less likely due to Beau's death and his ties to Obama.

More likely than not, the Democrats try to recruit some fresh faces to run against Romney. Perhaps Cory Booker or Elizabeth Warren?

The election would likely be a tossup or slightly favor Romney. If the economy is the same as it is today, Romney's reelection would be more certain. Difficult to know how Romney would have handled ISIS, but he undoubtedly would have directed more efforts towards combating the group than Obama. Regardless, ISIS probably still exists in an alternate 2016. A final factor worth mentioning is that, as most of us here remember, Romney is quite prone to gaffes. If he has as many gaffes in 2016 as he did in 2012, his reelection effort may be jeopardized. 

[Deblano]

Better than Obama. I hate to admit it, but he was right about just about everything.