Byron York notes that, after the worst weak of his campaign, Mitt Romney’s favorability in one poll has fallen to 31-to-49 percent. That is still better than Newt Gingrich’s 29-to-51 percent. York writes, “The numbers reflect a significant increase in Romney’s unfavorable ratings in recent weeks, the Post reports.”
This is true. As recently as January 8th, Romney had a positive rating in the Post poll by a 39-to-34 percent margin. The same is not true of Gingrich though. At no time in the Post poll has Gingrich ever had a positive favorability rating.
Romney definitely performed badly last week, and his favorability ratings have probably suffered as a result (more than one poll is needed before we can say this is a lasting trend). But Americans have not liked Gingrich for a long, long time and it is very likely they never will.
