Romney unfavorable rating with independents rises to 51%, 2 to 1 negative. Obama ratings skyrocket with rich whites-Wash Post

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Poll conducted 1/18- 1/22/12. Obama up 8 pts. among high income whites since Dec. 2011.

1/24/12, 7am, "Public sours on Romney in January," Washington Post, Jon Cohen

"The number of Americans with negative views of Mitt Romney has spiked in a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, compounding the former Massachusetts governor’s challenges as he tries to rally from Saturday’s big loss in South Carolina.

Among independents, Romney’s unfavorable rating now tops 50 percent — albeit by a single point — a first in Post-ABC polling back to 2006. Just two weeks ago, more independents had favorable than unfavorable views of Romney;

• now, it’s 2 to 1 negative.

Romney’s losses since a Post-ABC poll conducted between the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary are not limited to independents. The number of Democrats viewing him unfavorably is up 10 percentage points, and among his fellow Republicans, negative ratings have jumped from 18 to 32 percent. (Prior to his Iowa performance, Romney’s unfavorable number had been higher than 18, but hadn’t been in the 30s among Republicans since early 2008.)

Despite the slide, at 58 percent favorable among Republicans, Romney is as well reviewed as is his primary rival: In the new poll, 55 percent of rank-and-file Republicans give Newt Gingrich positive ratings. Some 34 percent view the former speaker unfavorably....

Romney, whom moderates rated about evenly throughout the fall and into early January, are now about 2 to 1 negative: 27 percent hold favorable views, 52 percent negative ones.

One group that continues to elude Obama in his moderate resurgence on favorability is whites with annual household incomes under $50,000. Since December, whites with higher incomes are up eight points in favorable impressions of the president; those under the $50K threshold are basically unmoved at 40 percent favorable, 56 percent unfavorable.

This is also a group — whites with incomes under $50K — that’s moved away from Romney over the past two weeks, with his unfavorable numbers jumping from 29 to 49 percent (exactly where Gingrich is as well)." via Hot Air

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