Poll: Attack Ads Against Bain Are Working

An internal poll from Priorities USA Action, a Super PAC supporting President Barack Obama, shows that an increasing number of likely voters in swing states are viewing Mitt Romney’s business experience as a liability. The polling shows that 37 percent of voters are now less likely to vote for him because of his business experience, while only 27 percent say that they are more likely.

Romney has based his presidential campaign around the theory that his success as CEO of Bain Capital proves that — unlike President Obama — he knows how to help the economy and create jobs. It appears, however, that Priorities USA Action’s barrage of ads attacking Romney’s time at Bain has significantly undermined that theory. “Priorities USA’s recent ad campaign on Romney’s record as CEO of Bain Capital had a clear negative impact on perceptions of Romney across a variety of metrics,” the Priorities USA Action memo reads. The poll shows that Obama has a larger lead over Romney in the markets in which the super PAC has targeted than in similar markets in which their ads had not aired.

The poll, conducted by Global Strategy Group and Garin-Hart-Yang Research Group, surveyed 3,800 people in the battleground states of Colorado, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. An average of 43 percent of voters across all five states view Romney unfavorably, compared to just 36 percent who view him favorably. The numbers are worse among independent voters; 42 percent of that key group view Romney unfavorably, while 30 percent view him favorably. Another damaging finding shows that 58 percent believe that “Romney’s priority was making millions for himself and his investors, regardless of the impact on jobs and the employees.”

A recent USA Today/Gallup poll backs up the groups’ findings; it found that “At this point, Obama is the clear winner in the ad wars. Among swing-state voters who say the ads have changed their minds about a candidate, rather than just confirmed what they already thought, 76% now support the president, vs. 16% favoring Romney.”