What the battle over Romney’s wealth is really about, in one poll finding

What the battle over Romney’s wealth is really about, in one poll finding

By Greg Sargent

Today the Post has released some new polling that contains a remarkable finding: Romney’s unfavorability rating has spiked massively among these voters.

Among overall Americans, Romney’s favorability rating — a measure of broad acceptability — has dropped eight points since earlier this month, to 31 percent. His unfavorable rating has jumped 15 points, to 49 percent. That’s a net swing of 23 points. His negative rating now tops 50 among independents.

But the most interesting finding is among whites with incomes of under $50,000: His negative numbers among them have jumped 20 points, from 29 percent to 49 percent.

This is important. In 2008, one key to Obama’s victory was that he pulled in 46 percent of whites with incomes between $30,000 and $75,000, an uncharacteristically high number for a Dem presidential nominee...If Romney proves unpopular among these voters, it’s not impossible that Dems could win them back in the numbers they need next year. It’s true that Obama’s numbers among them remain worse than Romney’s; his negative rating is 56 percent. But according to a recent Center for American Progress study, Obama only has to limit his losses among this demographic in order to win reelection, provided he does reasonably well with upscale, college-educated whites — and today’s Post poll finds he’s rising with that group.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/what-the-battle-over-romneys-wealth-is-really-about-in-one-poll-finding/2012/01/24/gIQAiVMNNQ_blog.html