From key districts in swing states, to hotly contested Congressional seats, the outcome of the 2012 U.S. presidential and congressional elections will all come down to numbers. With this in mind, the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) and the European External Action Service (EEAS) came together to host an event on the elections featuring three experts equipped with the latest polling data from inside and outside of the United States.

On Thursday, October 4th, the GMF Brussels office kicked off its 2012 U.S. Elections Series with an event featuring Bruce Stokes, director of Pew Global Attitudes Project; Sean Trende, senior elections analyst for Real Clear Politics; and Alexandra de Hoop Scheffer, director of GMF’s Paris office.

On the heels of the first presidential debate, the speakers came armed with the latest numbers on consumer confidence, support for the presidential candidates in terms of likeability, and ability to strengthen the nation’s economy, as well the demographic breakdown of the candidates’ key supporters. The audience also gained in-depth analysis of the congressional and gubernatorial races expected to be tight races.

The Transatlantic Trends 2012 report by GMF gave a transatlantic take on relations between the EU and US. According to the data, if Europeans decided the outcome of the election President Barack Obama would find overwhelming support in the EU. French respondents (89%) lead support for the incumbent President followed by Germany (87%) and Portugal (85%).

The audience walked away with a better understanding of the electoral college, changes within the parties and party identification, as well as what to look for in these final weeks leading up to the U.S. presidential and state-level elections.