What the primary race has done to Matt Romney's favorability ratings

[NNN0LHI]

http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2012/03/what-the-primary-race-has-done-to-mitt-romneys-favorability-ratings.html

Wednesday, March 07, 2012

Set the Wayback Machine for March, 2008. Gallup.com:

John McCain's 67% favorable rating is the highest of any of the three major candidates running for president, and ties for his highest in Gallup polling history.

The graph to the right shows what McCain's numbers were doing during a period similar to the period charted above, though in his case the numbers were going the other direction. Barack Obama had a favorability rating of 62 percent in Gallup; Hillary Clinton was at 53%.

I suppose it's still possible that this primary donnybrook will toughen up Romney and he'll be a better presidential candidate (if he makes it) for all this. I think of him as a Bob Dole/Al Gore/John Kerry loser in waiting, but the model Republicans can look to for hope is Bill Clinton.