SERIOUSLY, GUYS, JUST STOP
Most of the news in the new ABC/Washington Post poll is very good for President Obama:
... Overall, 55 percent of those who are closely following the campaign say they disapprove of what the GOP candidates have been saying. By better than 2 to 1, Americans say the more they learn about Romney, the less they like him....
Obama's overall approval rating stands at 50 percent, the highest in a Post-ABC News poll since a brief run above 50 percent immediately after Osama bin Laden was killed in early May....
In a general-election test, Obama leads Romney 52 to 43 percent among all Americans; more narrowly, 51 to 45 percent, among registered voters....
I just want to point out a couple of things that suggest a slow learning curve on the right.
One concerns the way Romney and other Republicans, especially Rick Santorum, try to talk about Obama as if he's a sandal-wearing hippie out of touch with bellicose Real Americans. It ain't working, guys, so just give it up:
Challenged for lack of foreign policy and military knowledge in 2008, both are strong for [Obama] now: He leads Romney by 56-37 percent in trust to handle international affairs and by a similar 56-36 percent in trust to handle terrorism...
You can question some of the things Obama did to get to this point, but really: after the last forty years, did you ever think you'd see a Democrat with a double-digit lead over a Republican on questions like this?
The other number I want to point out concerns the GOP race for the nomination. Here's a poll question:
For each item I name, please tell me if it is a major reason to (support) that candidate, a major reason to (oppose) that candidate, or not a major factor?
The first item listed is "Romney's business experience" -- and, well, 48% of voters overall consider it a "major reason to support" Romney, while only 12% consider it a "major reason to oppose" him -- but among Republicans and Republican leaners, that jumps to 67% support, 5% oppose.
Newt Gingrich, are you listening? Republican voters love Mitt Romney's business experience. Every time you attack him on this, he seems more genuinely Republican in the voters' eyes, and you seem less so. Really, Newt, stick to attacking journalists and non-white people.
The stuff about Romney is a mixed bag. Voters overall think Romney doesn't pay enough taxes -- that's by more than a two-to-one margin -- and they think Obama is much more likely than Romney to protect the middle class. But they're split on whether Romney's wealth is a positive or a negative, they really think his business record is a positive, and they think he'd be better than Obama on the deficit.
In a sane country, nominating a heartless fat cat would be political suicide this year; right now, it appears to be, at worst, a moderately bad idea. That might be good enough for the Democrats, however.
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(Scan the poll's highlights here.)
