Romney Policies May Trump Obama 'Likability'

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Investors Business Daily:

TAMPA, Fla. — The Republicans who are assembled here have been told time and time again that Barack Obama's great advantage over Mitt Romney is likability.

And many of the 15,000 or so journalists who endured the gusts of rain on Monday and groaned in the sun on the 1.5-mile walk from the nearest parking lot to the metal detectors outside the convention press center have been writing and sound-biting that the chief task of the Romney campaign is to introduce Romney's personal background and character to the public to improve his favorability ratings.

Both talking points are true, but only (in an old journalistic phrase) up to a point.

The latest ABC/Washington Post poll, for example, reported that when asked which of the two candidates was more likable, 61% picked Obama and only 27% said Romney. That looks like a huge advantage.

But when you look at what pollsters call their favorable/unfavorables, the contrast is much less distinct. Obama's balance in the Real Clear Politics average of recent polls is 49% favorable, 45% unfavorable.

Romney's are 43% favorable, 43% unfavorable. Weaker, but not a whole lot. A successful convention could put Romney's numbers up around Obama's, or higher — just Team Obama's campaigning seems to have weighed his down.

As for likability, it's more important in some elections than in others. Bob Grady, who worked on George H.W. Bush's 1988 campaign, tells how Bush turned a deficit going into the conventions into a lead in the polls.

Focus groups tested the response to speeches by Bush and his opponent, Michael Dukakis. Dukakis came out ahead. But when the focus groups were shown a generic TV newscaster type reading the two texts, the Bush message was the winner.