Barring a unforeseen meltdown, Mitt Romney is poised to take the GOP nomination, especially after last night’s primary sweep of Wisconsin, Maryland and the District of Columbia. The Obama campaign has already begun to strategically position their message around Romney as the inevitable Republican nominee and the media has started to speculate on possible vice presidential candidates.
But one consistent problem that Romney has faced throughout the primary season, and could be a huge factor going into the general election, is his likeability. Neil King of the Wall Street Journal, who wrote previously on Romney’s likeability deficit, appeared on The Diane Rehm Show this morning and explained that while both Obama and Romney may suffer from various disapproval ratings, likeability is a tougher obstacle to tackle.”I could be disapproved by my mother for an extended period for not sending her a card on Mother’s Day, but in the end she still likes me,” King said. “And it’s easy to get her to approve of me again. What Obama has in his favor [over Romney] is that he is still liked by a large majority of Americans, even though they may disapprove of his policies.”
A recent program by The Graduate Center at CUNY brought journalists Joe Klein of Time, Peter Beinart of The Daily Beast, and Ben Smith of BuzzFeed together in a discussion on the presidential election in which they covered issues concerning Romney’s belief system and public persona, both of which contribute to his likeability.
A Conversation about the Presidential Election from The Graduate Center, CUNY on FORA.tv
