Romney Runs Virtually Unopposed and Watches Obama’s Lead Grow

Last updated on February 9th, 2013 at 08:50 am

Mitt Romney ran virtually unopposed in Pennsylvania, and saw President Obama’s lead grow to eight points. Demonstrating again that the more voters see of Romney, the less they like him.

After Rick Santorum dropped out of the race, Romney halted his ad spending in Pennsylvania. What happened when Mitt didn’t have his usual negative ad barrage? According to new Quinnipiac poll, Romney actually lost five points running virtually unopposed in the PA primary, and now trails Obama 47%-39%. Since March, Obama has gained two points while Romney lost three. Despite all of the ad spending, Romney still has a negative approval rating in the state, with only 35% approving and 39% disapproving. Obama’s approval rating in the state is a solid 51%/43%.

A majority of Pennsylvanians (51%) disapprove of the Republican Party, but by a margin of 45%-41% those surveyed approve of the Democratic Party. Fifty percent of those surveyed both approve of Obama and think that he deserves to be reelected.

President Obama leads Romney by nine points with Independents (45%-36%), and by seventeen points with women (52%-35%). Among white voters, Romney narrowly leads by four (45%-41%), and by three among men (44%-41%). Romney has seen his eight point lead on the question of who would better handle the economy (48%-42%), turn into a one point Obama advantage (44%-43%).

The problem for Mitt Romney is that he actually lost general election support when Pennsylvania took a look at him. Mitt Romney is shaping up to not only be a bad candidate, but also one who actually his chances the more he campaigns.

Two other Quinnipiac polls show the race tightening in Florida and Ohio, but the odds are that this is more the result of Obama sliding a few points in those two states. Romney’s numbers remained the same in both states. The Romney campaign seems to be throwing everything they have at Obama already, because they know that their candidate is no good, and their only hope of winning in November is to make people vote against Obama instead of for Romney.

If you add in the fact that President Obama has not even officially started campaigning yet, it is clear that the Republicans have a big problem. One of the best campaigners in modern political history is about unleash his skills and resources on Mitt Romney. In this current economy, with the struggles that President Obama has gone through, historical precedent tells us that he should be losing, but the president isn’t.

Republicans appear to have nominated a candidate that gets less popular the more voters see of him. President Obama carried Pennsylvania by 11 points in 2008. He currently leads by eight points. If his lead continues to grow or sustain through the summer Pennsylvania will not be in play, and Mitt Romney’s path the presidency will continue to shrink.

Mitt Romney, Pennsylvania’s just not that into you.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

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Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association

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