CHICAGO-In surprising results, Pres. Barack Obama was selected as the most trusted presidential candidate by readers in the latest GlobeSt.com poll. The conservative-minded commercial real estate industry usually is critical of the president, such as recent poll results where many readers derided his State of the Union speech, or blasted his Better Buildings push and job plans.

Answering the question “Which Presidential hopeful do you trust the most?”, 41% of 429 respondents picked Obama, while 38% picked Romney. Ron Paul garnered 9%, Rick Santorum had 8% of the vote, and Newt Gingrich had the least at 4%. You can read the poll results here.

Real estate professionals such as Citadel Realty’s Joel Ross were astonished at this outcome, especially considering Obama’s views on carried interest and tax increases. “I think if he’s reelected, it’s going to be just like he told the Russian president he’s going to let loose,” Ross says. “He’s going to come down hard on lenders and servicers, and try to push through tax increases. It’s potential disaster.”

Most real estate professionals believe this won’t be a year of change – that Obama and other politicians will be too worried about the election to try to pass important legislation. Obama’s harder stance on regulation and taxes, such as increasing the tax on millionaires, is thought to be anti-business, something the still-reeling economy will have a hard time punching through.

Ross says he believes Romney has the much better chance of gaining the nation’s top office, as high gas prices, slow job growth and trouble in the Middle East and North Korea will make people angry enough to switch leadership. “Put all these things together, and Obama loses,” Ross says.

Jonathan Miller with Miller Ryan LLC, however, says he thinks Romney is blowing it by trying to be too diplomatic. Miller tells GlobeSt.com that he thinks people are warming up to Obama as the economy slowly improves. “Romney tends to tell people what he thinks they want to hear and has been all over the map on many important issues,” Miller says. “That doesn’t exactly inspire trust.”

Instant Insights /

Poll: Some Surprised, Some Not, at Trust in Obama

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