A new Pew poll shows President Obama up by twelve on former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney nationally as the former governor stuggles on favorability with registered voters.
Obama leads 54 – 42 in the direct matchup, and one of the chief reasons seems to be Romney’s personal rating — only 29 percent of registered voters see him favorably, while 51 percent see him in a negative light. President Obama’s results are the opposite, 56 percent see him favorably versus 41 percent, and Obama has reached 50 percent on job approval for the first time in Pew’s polling since May 2011.
And as another hit to Romney, the numbers show his base isn’t as high on his candidacy. From Pew’s report:
Obama also holds an enthusiasm advantage over both of his main GOP rivals. In a matchup with Romney, 41% say they support Obama strongly, compared with only 28% who strongly support the former Massachusetts governor. Obama holds a commanding 45% to 28% lead over Santorum in strong support.
Republicans have a modest lead in engagement; 71% of Republican and Republican-leaning voters say they have given quite a lot of thought to the presidential election, compared with 64% of Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters. However, this is far short of the engagement advantage the GOP held in pre-election polls in the 2010 midterm campaign.
The Pew numbers favorable to Obama come as other national polling has shown the exact opposite picture: suveys from CBS News and the New York Times, as well as another from ABC News and the Washington Post both showed Obama’s approval dropping as gas prices rise. Additionally, a Bloomberg released Tuesday night showed the national Obama–Romney matchup tied, while a Reuters/Ipsos survey from the same time showed Obama with a big lead.
The TPM Poll Average of all public data shows President Obama taking the lead back from Romney after he held it last week.
