[alnorth]

Mitt Romney is the first presidential candidate in the last 7 elections with a net disfavorable rating. (not to be confused with job approval rating)

That is freaking incredible. Even if a voter doesn't think someone is doing a good job and doesn't plan to vote for them, they are usually reluctant to tell a pollster that they DISLIKE a candidate. Its hard to tell when a gaffe is going to matter or not (almost never) but that 47% thing may be the very rare gaffe that does matter. The people apparently have decided that Romney is a sneering plutocrat.