FOX News Poll Bad For Romney

Fox News, that bastion of liberal media, released a new poll today.

And, well that poll looks bad.  It's bad for Mitt Romney.

The poll was conducted by live telephone calls on both cell phones and land line phones August 5-7.  All respondents were registered voters.  Margin of error is 3 points.

Romney 40%
Obama 49%
Other 2%
Would Vote 2%
Don't Know 8%

So, what you have is Obama with a 9-point lead over Romney.  In their July 15-17 poll, that number was 45-41 Obama, so he's increasing his lead.

One thing that made me nervous was that respondents were asked how interested about the election they were.    Of those who were "Extremely Interested" (42% of the sample), The Romney-Obama race was tied at 48-48.  However, in the previous poll, Romney led extremely interested voters 53-42.  So, Romney is losing ground with those extremely interested.

On Favorable/Unfavorable ratings for the candidates, we see Obama is more favorable than Romney

Obama 54% Favorable 42% Unfavorable
Romney 46% Favorable 45% Unfavorable

And, according to this poll, Obama has a 49% approval rating (46% disapprove).  President Obama has hovered between 42-49% since he hit 55% approval in May 2011 (just after the bin Laden kill).  While it's tough to win as an incumbent with an approval rating below 50%, It seems kike many of those who don't approve of Obama still won't vote for Mitt.

Regardless of how you would vote, how comfortable would you be with Mitt Romney as President?
Extremely Comfortable 8%
Very Comfortable 18%
Somewhat Comfortable 33%
Not at All comfortable 38%
Don't Know 3%

And, they asked the 71% that would be somewhat or not very comfortable with a President Romney what the main reason they felt that way. And, the answers they gave showed us where Romney fails:

His positions on the issues 17%
Phony/Dishonest 9%
Out of Touch 8%
Republican/Conservative 7%
For the Rich 7%
Everything 6%
His Wealth/He's rich 5%
Changes his positions/Flip flops 5%
Don't know enough about him 5%
Business Background/experience 4%
No Substance 3%
Too Conservative 2%
Religion/Mormonism 2%
Arrogant 2%
No Charisma 1%
Not Conservative enough 1%
Too close to Bush/Same as Bush 1%
Other 6%
Don't know 9%

So, most of the answers given are about Mitt the man, and it's hard to reintroduce yourself to the American people.  It can be done, but it's hard.  Especially when people have an opinion that you are an out of touch, dishonest rich politician in it for yourself.

Let's look at Obama on the same question:

Extremely Comfortable 21%
Very Comfortable 20%
Somewhat comfortable 22%
Not at all Comfortable 37%
Don't know 1%

Of the 59% of people who were somewhat or not at all comfortable with a second term for President Obama, they gave these reasons why:

Performance as President: 25%
Unemployment/Jobs/No economic recovery 15%
His positions on the issues 14%
Everything 9%
Health Care plan 6%
Big Government spending 5%
Socialist policies 4%
Phony/Dishonest 4%
Changes his positions/Flip flops 3%
Democrat/Liberal 2%
Taxes 2%
No substance/just a celebrity 1%
Arrogant 1%
Against business -
His background/race -
Other 5%
Don't know 4%

But, here's the kicker question, the question that has to have Team Mitt shaking in their shoes:

If Barack Obama is re-elected as president, which of the following best describes your feelings?

42% The country's going down the drain and I am dreading what is going to happen in the next four years.
18% The country's improving every day and I look forward to another four years.
7% neither
3% Don't know