Debates deliver favorability edge to Romney

By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times

BOCA RATON, Fla. — Mitt Romney crossed a major threshold early this week, moving above 50 percent in his favorability rating, according to the Real Clear Politics average of polls — and, for the first time in the campaign, he now leads President Obama on that measure.

The Republican presidential nominee has clearly benefitted from the debates. He had a 44.5 percent favorability rating at the end of September, before the debates. But by Monday, when he and Mr. Obama faced off for the final debate of the campaign, Mr. Romney’s favorability average was up at 50.5 percent.

“He’s did a great job humanizing himself in the first debate and seeming presidential in the second debate,” said Republican pollster Mike McKenna, who said the debate performances punctured Mr. Obama’s campaign-long strategy of trying to disqualify Mr. Romney in the minds of voters.

The Romney effort to seem measured continued on Monday in the third and final matchup between the two men. That debate was dedicated to foreign policy, and he batted away the president’s attacks, at one point accusing Mr. Obama of having little else.

“Attacking me is not an agenda,” the Republican said.

Mr. Obama summed up the last month’s worth of debates at the end of Monday’s affair, saying they framed the choice between the two candidates.

“You know, over the last four years, we’ve made real progress digging our way out of policies that gave us two prolonged wars, record deficits and the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression,” he said. “And Governor Romney wants to take us back to those policies: a foreign policy that’s wrong and reckless; economic policies that won’t create jobs, won’t reduce our deficit, but will make sure that folks at the very top don’t have to play by the same rules that you do.”

Instant polls showed Mr. Obama won Monday’s debate, following his strong second-debate performance, too.

Indeed, commentators on both sides of the aisle skewered Mr. Romney for failing to give a sense of what he’d do differently on world hotspots.

“In fact, Governor Romney appeared to leave a lot of his positions behind, and it does leave you with the question: What is his worldview? What does he really believe?” former Bush administration State Department top official Nicholas Burns told CNN on Tuesday. “I think he’s leaving the impression that he’s not quite sure what he’d do or that he’s not being as specific as he might be.”

The Obama campaign said Mr. Romney “proved yet again that he would say anything to close the deal, no matter what his real positions are.”

But overall, the debates have dealt a blow to Mr. Obama’s key strategy of making Mr. Romney unacceptable to different demographics of voters — particularly women.

In Monday’s foreign policy debate, Mr. Romney hewed closely to the president’s decision-making when it came to action in Syria, Iran and Afghanistan. Indeed, at one point the president told Mr. Romney the only difference in their positions was “you’d say them louder.”

While Mr. Obama was playing for a win on policy points in the debate, Mr. Romney was aiming for something different: another chance to introduce himself to voters.

A day ahead of the first debate, Comedy Central’s election page was able to write a headline poking fun at the candidate’s appeal: “Romney continues to keep his humanity a closely guarded secret.”

But by the time the first debate was done, a huge national audience saw Mr. Romney sprinkle in stories of everyday voters he’d met who were struggling through the sluggish economy. The Republican’s humanity became the storyline.

Mr. Romney then took that strategy on the road, adding into his standard stump speech a litany of personal interactions he’s had ranging from a woman whose husband, an Army sniper, was killed in Afghanistan, to the Boy Scout troop that sent its American flag up on the space shuttle Challenger on its fateful last flight in 1986.

The Romney campaign still has several problems when it comes to relating.

In The Washington Times/Zogby Poll released over the weekend, Mr. Romney trails Mr. Obama and even his own running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, when voters were asked who is the most likable person on the Democratic and Republican tickets.

Indeed, Mr. Obama nearly doubled Mr. Romney’s rating, 40 percent to 22 percent. Mr. Ryan was rated most likable by 23 percent, and only 10 percent said that honor went to Vice President Joseph R. Biden.

The problem extends to the candidates’ wives, too. The Times/Zogby Poll found voters preferred Michelle Obama to be first lady over Ann Romney, 36 percent to 26 percent. Another 17 percent said both were equally suited, while the rest weren’t sure either made a good first lady.