Romney least liked candidate in recent history? Polling numbers say no

Americans aren't actually much fonder of President Barack Obama. He has a net favorable ranging from -3 to +9.5, which averages out to a net favorable of 1.9 percentage points. He has a higher net favorable than Romney in 6 out of 9 of the polls which aimed to measure favorability in July. Americans view Obama more favorably than they do Romney, but not by a great margin.

Then why is there a belief that Obama is so much better liked than Romney?

First, Romney's long-standing low favorability has probably seeped into the the pundit consciousness in many cases. If you look at any chart of favorability, you'll see that Romney has been forced to climb out of a cellar of favorability since his bruising primary campaign.

Second, the greatest favorability gaps in favor of Obama are occurring among outfits with the greatest audiences. Gallup and the NBC News/Wall Street Journal were the only polls where Romney's net favorability trailed Obama's by double-digits. Both Gallup and NBC News lasered in on this difference in recent write-ups, and Gallup argued that this was the reason Romney was behind. Interestingly, NBC News' state polling partner Marist actually had Romney's net favorable 1 point higher than Obama's.

Obama Has Big Likability Edge Over Romney
Nearly twice as many say Obama, rather than Romney, is more likable

PRINCETON, NJ -- Registered voters are nearly twice as likely to say Barack Obama, rather than Mitt Romney, is the more likable of the two presidential candidates. Obama's 60% to 31% advantage on this characteristic is the largest for either candidate on five separate dimensions tested in a May 1-2 USA Today/Gallup poll.

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http://www.gallup.com/poll/154547/Obama-Big-Likability-Edge-Romney.aspx

Americans overwhelmingly continue to believe Obama is the more likable of the two candidates, by 60% to 30%, a gap basically unchanged from earlier this year.

The differences are smaller when Americans say whether they have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of each candidate individually, though Obama still owns a significant advantage. In two Gallup polls conducted this month, an average of 54% of Americans have a favorable opinion of Obama, while 44% have an unfavorable view. In contrast, Romney's views average out slightly more negative (47%) than positive (43%) in the same two polls.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/156134/Obama-Character-Edge-Offsets-Romney-Economic-Advantage.aspx

George Bush and John Kerry are again deadlocked, 45% Bush � 45% Kerry, among likely voters in the three-way race, as they head into tonight's town hall meeting, according to a TIME Poll taken Oct. 6-7. Nader is down to 3%.

On being "likeable," a key strength for Bush in 2000, Bush now trails Kerry, 70% - 65%. (Bush had a slight 4 point lead on likeability before the debate.) Bush still leads Kerry by a wide margin, 81% - 42% on "sticking to his positions."

http://www.time.com/time/press_releases/article/0,8599,712673,00.html#ixzz21yjytlt7

In April, a Washington Post-ABC News poll found an even larger gap, with 64 percent of those surveyed describing Obama as the friendlier, more likable candidate, and only 26 percent saying that about Romney.

http://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2018799201_likability29.html