Mitt Romney's Bain Capital business experience is increasingly turning into a political liability, according to a swing-state poll released today by Priorities USA Action, the super PAC supporting President Barack Obama.
The survey, conducted by Democratic pollsters Global Strategy Group and the Garin-Hart-Yang Research Group on behalf of the super PAC, supports growing evidence that voters are less likely to vote for Romney based on what they are seeing and hearing about his tenure at private equity firm Bain Capital. Larger polls late last month first showed the shift toward Obama that experts attributed to the president's attacks on Romney's business career.
Among voters polled from battleground states Colorado, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, 37 percent said Romney's business experience would make them less likely to vote for him, compared with 27 percent who responded that it would make them more likely to vote for him. Another 58 percent of respondents said they feel Romney's priority as CEO was to earn millions for himself and his investors, irrespective of the consequences for jobs and employees. The poll adds fresh proof that Obama's attacks on Bain Capital are working, despite criticism from Democratic leaders and prominent Obama backers.
The Priorities USA Action memo describing the poll noted that the super PAC has run advertising in 11 media markets across the five battleground states where voters were polled. In those markets, 40 percent of voters said Romney's record at Bain Capital makes them less likely to vote for him.
The results could spell serious problems for Romney, who touts his business experience as a primary reason why he is better suited to steer the economy than Obama. The findings also shed light on Team Romney's inability to adequately defend against the Bain attacks, beyond calling them a distraction from the president's economic record.
Read the full Priorities USA Action memo here:
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