2012 Decoded

The three Quinnipiac University CBS/New York Times swing state polls released this morning, like the three released last week, capture the consistency of attitudes shaping the presidential race in battlegrounds across the country-while also recording movement among one key group of voters.

Even with one big surprise in the results-Mitt Romney's lead in Colorado, a state that in many ways embodies the modern Democratic electoral coalition-the polls mostly show voters across the six states this year dividing in consistent patterns largely familiar from 2008 (and indeed from elections since 1992). "By and large, the demographics trump the geographics," said veteran Democratic pollster Geoff Garin, who is advising Priorities USA Action, a Super PAC supporting Obama.