November 07, 2011 09:12 PM UTC

How Low Is Mitt Romney's Ceiling?

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• by: Colorado Pols

Last week was not good to Republican Presidential contender Herman Cain, who tried (and failed) to spin his way out of a litany of prior sexual harassment claims. You would think that Cain’s problems, combined with the apparent cratering of Rick Perry weeks earlier, would be a boon for Mitt Romney.

Apparently not. From The Washington Post:

Often described as the candidate to beat in the GOP race, Romney remains stuck in place in national polls – he is at 24 percent in the Post-ABC survey – despite the fact that one of his main challengers, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, has stumbled and several high-profile potential candidates decided not to enter the race to challenge President Obama.

Romney’s lack of traction carries well beyond the head-to-head matchups with other competitors. It also is reflected on discrete issues and candidate attributes. Considerable numbers of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents consider the health plan that Romney signed into law in Massachusetts and his Mormon religion as strikes against him.

The survey tested the candidates on six attributes or characteristics. Romney has a sizable lead in just one: One-third of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents say he has the best chance of anyone in the field to defeat Obama in 2012.

While Romney may be viewed as the most likely Republican to defeat President Obama, there’s no getting around the fact that GOP voters just really don’t like him that much — which is one reason why his campaign is trying to stick a fork into Perry once and for all.

It’s worth noting that at this point in 2007, polls showed former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani to be the Republican favorite for President. Giuliani, of course, flamed out in spectacularly-invisible fashion; he didn’t so much implode as he just dissolved. This new poll will only increase the debate as to just how low Romney’s ceiling might be. While he isn’t going to fade away like Giuliani, there’s a very real question about Romney’s best-case scenario. Is 25-30% basically as good as Romney can do with Republicans?