Romney Unfavorable Rating Climbing

A hard-fought campaign between two or more candidates doesn't have to hurt any candidate. In 2008, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton engaged in one of the hardest fought campaigns in many years for the Democratic Party. But they did not try to destroy each other, and amazingly, both candidates finished the campaign more popular than ever -- with Barack Obama being elected president and Hillary Clinton being one of the most popular politicians in this country.

But it hasn't worked out that way for the Republicans in their fight for the presidential nomination this year. It looks like Willard Mitt Romney will probably win that nomination, but the campaign has not helped his popularity. The more people learn about Romney, the more it seems they don't like him. And a new poll now shows him badly trailing the president in popularity -- by about 19 points.

A new ABC News/Washington Post Poll has the president's favorability at about 53% (the third month in a row that he has scored above 50%). But as the chart above shows, Romney's favorability has dropped to only 34% (while his unfavorability has climbed to 50%). Romney may have been able to use all his corporate and Wall Street money to beat back his GOP opponents, but it has not made him very popular with the general public.

And this growing unfavorability is probably what's hurting him in the latest head-to-head match-ups with President Obama. A new Suffolk University national poll shows the president is now 10 points ahead of Romney. And the other Republican candidates do even worse. Here are those numbers:

SUFFOLK UNIVERSITY POLL

Obama...............47%
Romney...............37%
Third party...............7%
Undecided...............7%

Obama...............49%
Santorum...............35%
Third party...............7%
Undecided...............9%

Obama...............50%
Gingrich...............31%
Third party...............11%
Undecided...............7%

Obama...............49%
Paul...............28%
Third party...............12%
Undecided...............10%

And the news just keeps getting worse for both Romney and Santorum. A new Quinnipiac University Poll shows that President Obama has now jumped into a healthy lead over both of them in three very important swing states (states the Republicans must win to have a chance of winning the White House). Here are those numbers:

FLORIDA

Obama...............49%
Romney...............42%

Obama...............50%
Santorum...............37%

OHIO

Obama...............47%
Romney...............41%

Obama...............47%
Santorum...............40%

PENNSYLVANIA

Obama...............45%
Romney...............42%

Obama...............48%
Santorum...............41%

The extended Republican campaign is giving the GOP candidates a lot of exposure. Their problem is that the public just doesn't like what they see.