February 06, 2012 09:16 PM UTC

All Glory Is Fleeting

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• by: Colorado Pols

The Washington Post starts off the week with sobering news for Mitt Romney:

Boosted by improved public confidence in his economic stewardship, President Obama for the first time holds a clear edge over Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in a hypothetical general-election matchup, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll…

The survey was conducted Wednesday through Saturday. During that time, the president and the Republican candidates were in the spotlight: Obama had just completed his State of the Union address and held campaign-style rallies in battleground states, and the Republicans were in the middle of a series of primaries and caucuses.

Overall, 55 percent of those who are closely following the campaign say they disapprove of what the GOP candidates have been saying. By better than 2 to 1, Americans say the more they learn about Romney, the less they like him.

According to this new poll, Barack Obama leads a general-election matchup against Mitt Romney by a comfortable 52-43% margin among all Americans, a somewhat smaller (but still encouraging for Obama supporters) 51-45% among registered voters. Among the pivotal independent segment of voters, it’s a statistical tie with Obama nominally ahead 48-47%. Obama’s personal approval stands at 50%, the highest since the killing of Osama bin Laden.

Worth keeping in mind as Romney’s “momentum” grows…