unfavorable, 39. mccain's was 47 favorable, 27 unfavorable. kerry, 42 favorable, 30 unfavorable.rable, 39 unfavorable. so the only person who have a higher unfavorable rating than romney was bill clinton in april of 1992. how, despite the fact that you are writing about he's getting some big republican endorsements, how does he walk back from this kind of lopsided favorable/unfavorable standing with the american public? >> well, yeah. it's not so much about what romney can do to kind guest back from that. it's what can happen sort of around mitt romney that might help him do that. and that's why the example of bill clinton you cited there is worth remembering. it's hard to remember now when you think of bill clinton as the master politician, you know, one of the best ever. but at this point, this exact point 20 years ago, we were talking about -- people were talking about what a terrible candidate bill clinton was. how terribly bruised he had been by the process. all the scandals around them. gennifer flowers and all of that. clinton was a talented politician, is a much more tale

. >> the negative campaigning made his unfavorable ratings shoot up. his unfavorable rating is higher than his favorable rating. >> there's also a larger price to pay for this. women can be increasingly concerned about what the republicans'l the war on women. >> there's still debating birth control in the senate on thursday. -- they were still debating birth control in the senate on thursday. the amendment failed. explain to us why we're still having this debate in 2012. >> the republicans had an issue on the question of religious liberty with the obama health plan. where they made the mistake is going overboard with the question of reproductive rights and a woman's right to contraception. the amendment goes beyond the question of contraception. it would allow insurance companies to block mammograms. it is the zealotry of the republican push to embarrass obama that got them in this bad position on contraception. >> there is a close balance between the free exercise of religion and the separation of church and state that the government should not establ

those who viewed him favorably and unfavorably even 17 points higher for people who view him unfavorablyhan people who view him favorably. >> two things not so good for republicans and not good for president obama what do you agree with? >> i think the primary isn't a bad thing. it helps make the candidate stronger as we are seeing now mitt romney has become a better de bart because of the fact that he constantly has to compete with newt gingrich in these debates. it makes for a stronger candidates in the general election. i do agree with barber that president obama hasn't really gotten anything good out of this. if anything he's doing bad. we are seeing he is struggle to go get high dollar donations from the campaign which is extremely rare and kind of embarrassing for a sitting president. the amount of high dollar donations george w. bush had at this point during his election is four times more than what obama has right now. i think a lot of people are disenchanted and there isn't that enthusiasm any more. >> karl rove wrote a speech saying he was shocked president obama didn't have hi

the negative campaigns particularly by iran, made his unfavorable ratings shoot up. his unfavorable rating is hher than his favorable rating. >> there is a price to pay for this. women, i think, can be said to be increasingly concerned about what the democrats call the republicans waon women. >> they were still debating birtrth control in the senate on thursday. the amendment would allllow the employers to refuse to includ contraception because of religious or moral conventions. it failed. explain to us why we're still having this debate in 2012. >> they had an issue, the republicans had anssue that turned on religious liberty with the obama health care plan. where they made the mistake was going overboard with the question of reproductive rights and a woman's right to contraraception. the amendment goes beyond the question ofontraception. it would all insurance companie to block mammograms. it is the zeatry of the republican push to embarrass the obama that got them in a bad positition they are in on contraception. >> there is a close balance between the free exerci

50% unfavorable for mitt romney maybe it's better with independents.ean: but he's also been in a heated primary and i think that's going to calm down. >> sean, once it calms down and they zero in on one candidate, all of that money goes to one guy. >> one guy not vetted on andrew breitbart and drudge and here on obama -- >> hasn't been vetted! >> sean: no, no, no. he has not had his moment. every republican has had it. >> he has his moment for 3 or four years. the right-wing media and -- >> sean: right-wing media has been on barack obama before he ran for president. >> sean: okay. i can only -- >> he has been very vetted. >> sean: we are going to remind everybody of barack obama in his own words, so often and so consistently. you think he's been a good president. did you vote for him? >> i did not. >> sean: good for you. >> i voted for him. i think he's been a great president -- >> sean: $5 trillion in debt. >> that's all inherited from the bush administration. >> no,. >> sean: that's his debt. >> that was inherited. he had all the problems -- >> sean:

more americans see him unfavorably. dia diane, preliminary exit polls indicate mitt romney may be facing a much more welcoming electorate in illinois than mississippi or alabama. he may have been better able to relate to the average voter. >> thank you, jake. and here's a photograph for the history books, queen elizabeth celebrating her diamond jubilee, marking 60 years on the thrown. among the 400 guests at westminster hall, the queen chose to single out one person for thanks, her 90-year-old husband, prince philip. >> prince philip, is well known for declining compliments of any kind. [ laughter ] >> but throughout he has been a constant strength and guide. >> they've been married 65 years and recently prince harry, her grandson, said it was him who gave him the strength to carry on. >>> why an aspirin a day could keep cancer away. a new secret weapon in the fight against cancer. abc world news with diane sawyer, brought to you by auto stop. [ male announcer ] that. right there -- reminds you why you fell in love with

romney's favorables have dropped, his unfavorables have risen.ida he's slightly positive on that scale and in ohio he's slightly negative, whereas the president is positive in both states on that scale. >> how about interestingly the state of pennsylvania, though, because it's a little bit closer there, the president leading mitt romney 45 to 42. that has not changed since the december polls were taken. he was still up by three, but the rick santorum element there, because that is his home state. >> right. obviously, people know santorum in pennsylvania, some like him, some don't, but it has given more credibility to his attacks on mr. romney. so that santorum starts with an edge in pennsylvania. the interesting question is, will mr. santorum be able to carry pennsylvania against mitt romney, which is the next big primary up on april 24. >> okay. peter brown, come back and see us again, we have a lot of numbers to talk in the next seven months from quip pi yak. quinnipiac. thank you. >>> up next, we'll begin with the challenges president obama fa

romney's unfavorable number is still higher than santorum's, whose unfavorable marks having gone up every time cnn measured the number since last spring. >> ok. i want you to keep this full screen up and look at the middle number. mitt romney, who has long argued that he is the most electable, and who party leaders have long argued will do the best in the general election because he's not a radical reactionary, now has favorability ratings that are net minus 12. howard dean, boy, you just don't usually find a presidential candidate in that position. you know, whenever people would ask me, well, why can't sarah palin be president a year and a half ago, two years ago? i would say just look at the net favorability ratings. that they usually don't turn around. same with newt. the net unfavorability ratings were so bad, that rarely turns around. >> there's another problem with these numbers. not these particular numbers. the net unfavorability numbers are very bad. but this was a poll we showed on this show about six months ago, i think it was gallup, that showed that 70% of americans believe

you asked people to say, do you have a favorable or unfavorable view of these gentlemen. among independents, 52% have a favorable view of president obama. 35% of governor romney. there is evidence that this republican campaign has taken a toll on romney among the middle. >> exactly. >> we have seen this throughout the primaries that mitt romney, who was doing pretty well with independent voters before he started getting in these debates and moving to the right, as he had to do, to win over republican primary voters, was doing all right with independent voters. during this entire process, since january, he has lost altitude by about 20 points with independent voters. when you put him up against president obama, it doesn't look good. but, this is not to say that there isn't a long time between now and the election. independent voters are not called swing voters for nothing. so right now, it is with barack obama. but it could swing back to mitt romney particularly if the economic numbers start heading in the wrong direction. >> then everything changes as romney continues to

. >> with in 10 states and 400 delegates up for grabs, other voters have developed largely unfavorable views of all remaining candidates. been the worst campaign in my life. i just hate the fact that people pink compromise is a dirty word. candidate may have enough delegates to win the nomination. some are hoping calls for gingrich to drop out if he does not do well. >> we will have complete of super tuesday results. news channel 8 is having an special which begins a tonight. >> the president will hold his conference of the year this afternoon. the obama administration is dealing with several foreign syria issues including and the iranian nuclear program. the israeli prime minister his country cannot longer forait much diplomatic efforts to control ambitions.uclear nuclear ambitions. it must be stopped. >> benjamin netanyahu's tough talk suggests that he may be to launch a unilateral iran's nuclear facility. him at odds with who is to give, diplomacy and sanctions more o work >> . the george washington university after an alert person may have been on campus. the school sent out an ale

whenever gets into an unfavorable comment or question s they have been spoon fed by the romney camp.a long campaign. doingnow, both sides damage control. rick santorum insisted he, not romney, could repeal of -- obamacare. >> quit distorting my words. if i see it, it's [bleep]. >> today i asked him about the exchange. >> i do not regret it at all. he is the worst candidate to go in the mostck obama issue of the day. >> your profanity. do you regret that? >> it was in new york times was out of line. uri conservative than you are not worth your salt. >> there is no doubt that the the campaign can take made,ll and mistakes are like overnight when president a spoke to the russian leader about a missile defense shield. >> this is my last election. have more flexibility. and his opponents seized on that moment. he could be more flexible after the election? that is an alarming and troubling development. our is no time for to be pulling punches with the american people. >> the republican national capitalizing quickly web ad on the new president's perceived a mishap. lightlycriticism saying,

his unfavorability is 49.6 to 37.6 careful, larger than an 11-point gap the largest of almost anyone running in the last 36 years. the only person who had a gap not that large but that had more unfavorable than favorable at this point in the race in the primaries was bill clinton and it was not that large and he was very charismatic where robo corp clearly is not. we're going to bring in david shuster. great to have you with us. tell us about voter turnout there in illinois. >> well, cenk, from all over the state, the voter turnout has been remarkably low, this is the sort of news that gives the romney campaign heartburn. it would tend to hurt romney a little bit more than santorum because of the enthusiasm gap. one of the reasons for the low turnout just might be the weather. it was 83 degrees here in the city of chicago today setting all sorts of records. there have been records up and down the state. you might have a reason where people simply haven't wanted to spend this day awaiting in hot stuffy election lines. some of the most remarkable moments in this illinois primary have n

an abc news poll, mitt romney is viewed unfavorable by half of all adults. only 34% have positive impressions of him compared to 53% that view the president positively. the general election is seven months away. the bad news is it's just seven months away and romney's numbers are following a trajectory like four years ago. no one has won the white house since 1960 without carrying florida, ohio, or pennsylvania. this is where obama teamed up more good news in the swing states. a new poll showed the president leading romney in all three states. surprisingly closer in pennsylvania than the other two states. why? check out this. a gender gap. the president is beating romney with women with double-digits and six points ahead in pennsylvania as well. good news for romney this morning in the pennsylvania primary. according to a franklin and marshall role, santorum leads, but by a narrow margin. now just up two points. what may be the do-or-die moment, wisconsin holding the primary tuesday. he is outspending by about a 5-1 margin. that came down from earlier in the

but ann romney has an unfavorable rating of 31-22. >> that's not bad. >> it's name recognition. >> no is callista doing? >> bringing up the rear, callista gingrich, she's working 18 favorable to 44 unfavorable rating. >> that's devastatingly bad. >> is it because she's married to newt gringrich? people don't like him that much, but in reality it might be because we're scared of her. let's see. >> i'd like to share a few things about him that you may be surprised to hear. >> this is a stunningly-- [laughter] >> have many of us forgotten why america is an exceptional nation. >> from our family to yours, merry christmas and happy new year. i'm callista gingrich. [applause] >> real quick, why do people dislike her the most welcome a, she's a robot. two, she scarce a lot of people. >> he likes her because she's scary. >> i think that's true. callista and i agree. thank you, guys. when we come back, we're going to talk about the million hoodie march. we took some pictures in hoodies. i'm scrolling i'm scooting up all right. that's rick. that's tom, they look dangerous. look at all these fol

. >> unfavorable, unfair, discriminatory, harassment, psychological abuse, torture. >> now she's fighting back using twitter. in five minutes learn what she is saying. >> it's finally friday. up next anny hong has your weather first. stay with 9news now. >>> i'm anny hong with your forecast. lots of sunshine starting out on your friday morning. by noon temperatures in the 50s. afternoon highs top out in the lower 60s under partly cloudy conditions with increasing clouds later today. i'll have your seven-day forecast in just a few minutes. >>> right now we're checking out the right on 270. building volume out of frederick county. the pace down through germantown has been good. we're looking live from sky 9 at i-270 heading down to the split in rockville south of montrose road. quiet ride as you make your way on to the 270 spur or inner loop. the next check of traffic at 6:17. >>> thank you, berve. mitt romney is expected to get the backing of congressman paul ryan from wisconsin. that state holds its primary on tuesday. >> another big endorsement for romney is one of the stories making new

of folks are watching him and beginning to decide this guy is a mediocre politician, favorable-unfavorablesre upside down. policies don't work in terms of general election appeal. i was thinking his big argument is i'm a ceo i can fix the economy, not only may the economy be getting fixed on its own, the last ceo who was president? herbert hoover. >> that didn't turn out too well. >> no, it didn't. >> both romney and santorum have real poor records with the middle class and wage earners, that is what ohio is all about. how is this going to unfold for him? >> i think it's not just the content of his policies, i dpree with what richard said a minute ago, they are a problem. i think his persona. you watched him today at that silly rally, 120, 150 people, what kind of momentum, this is one time he ought to fire his advance staff. then he walks up, pushes that button and said that is my heavy lift for manufacturing. he doesn't have a sense of humor or one that translates. doesn't seem to know how to identify or talk with the ordinary people he ought to stick on the script. he comes across increa

uncertainty in the euro zone and a smaller number of large nice things from state owned firms created unfavorable conditions for i.p.o.'s but emerging markets are still the leaders with china topping the list and the number of deals russia is out of the league because the last summit hosted an i.p.o. was last summer. that's how business looks the sound of all right thanks very much we'll be checking in with you next hour to see how the markets are faring throughout this last trading day of the week. i'll be back with a recap of our top stories in a minute how about a special report on the former soviet leaders stay with us. the. if. you are the target of. this industry still keeps its secrets a time to feel that it's the soviet files on oxy some cool. in. the in. this new. this. is.

the unfavorables are very high.and the republicans, as he has watched by. it's been the tenor of this campaign, not the length of it. the personal attacks. all the kinds of things that superpacs are pouring money into negative ads have made the general election much more difficult than it otherwise would have been. >> do you think rush limbaugh adds to that? or do you think people say he's an entertainer, it's not a straight political forum? >> well, i'm sure he's an entertain entertainer, but his remarks are totally unacceptable, totally and completely unacceptable, and there's no place for it. >> before i let you go, i want to ask you about "game change" the movie that will air on saturday, and julianne moore plays sarah palin and ed harris plays you. >> i'm not sure how much she knows about foreign policy. >> you can actually see russia from land here in alaska. >> oh, my god. what have we done? >> was it my fault i wasn't properly prepped? >> all right. well, i know that's not the first time you have seen the cl

tuesday with ten states and more than 400 delegates up for grabs, voters have developed largely unfavorable reviews of all remaining candidates. shared openly by barbara bush. >> since i think, the worst campaign i have ever seen in my life. i just hate it. i hate the fact that people think domp miz is a dirty word. >> reporter: for better or worse, no candidate will come out of super tuesday with enough delegates to claim the nomination. rob and paula? >> scott, let's fast forward. how are they shaping up in a head-to-head contest with president obama? >> reporter: well in ohio, it looks like an uphill battle for all of the republicans right now. president obama fares very well against all of them. this will be something to watch. no republican has ever won the white house without winning ohio in november. >> scott goldberg, stay warm today. >>> stay with abc news for all over coverage. diane sawyer and george stephanopoulos have our coverage tonight. we'll wrap up tomorrow on "america this morning." >>> the republican candidates have come under fire for not directly criticizing rush limba

pacs have played a key role, unfortunately in my view, because most are negative ads, driven up unfavorables of all the candidates and made it much more difficult to win the election. >> you worry about tone. you've been in nasty -- >> this is the nastiest i have ever seen. again, when you have las vegas casino mogul, by the way, who gets part of his money from a cow, pouring $20 million into one campaign, and most of those are negative ads, obviously, that drives up people's unfavorables. so, it's -- it's the result of the worst decision the united states supreme court has made in many years. the citizens united decision where out of naivety and sheer ignorance the majority of the supreme court just unloosened all -- released all money now. there will be scandals. there will be scandals and then maybe we'll reform again. >> let's talk about somebody you've known a long timing newt gingrich. you look at this field. gingrich looks like he's fading but he says i'm in this all the way, i'm tag-teaming romney. what do you do about that? >> again, because of the super pacs and the ability to get

a new poll showing a record number of americans have an unfavorable opinion of the candidate. is this something he can overcome in time for the general election if he gets there? >> arthel: investigators say they've found a handwritten will and the blood of a missing utah mom in the family home. why are they still treating this as a missing person's case? [ male announcer ] fothe saver, and a g first step. for the spender who needs a little help saving. for adding "& sons." for the dreamer, planning an early escape. for the mother of the bride. for whoever you are, for whatever you're trying to achieve, pnc has technology, guidae, and over 150 years of experience to help you get there. ♪ 8% every 10 years.age 40, we can start losing muscle -- to help you get there. wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor? it's the amino acid metabolite, hmb to help rebuild muscle and strength naturally lost over time. [ female announcer ] ensure muscle health has revigor and protein to help protect, preserve, and pro

unfortunately, that clip showed the military in an unfavorable light, but, by the same token, a realistic military version and what its function is can help the military itself and the american public understand its military and what it's there for. it's not there to be john wayne. this is the problem the vietnam generation has in going into vietnam. that is, they apply hollywood frames of reference that they were brought up on in the 1940's and 50's to the new experience and it doesn't fit. (yelling back and forth in vietnamese) barnes! barnes! what the f--- do you think you're doin'?! stay out of this, elias. this ain't your show. you ain't a firing squad, you piece of s---! (yelling commotion) my motivation was to remember before it was forgotten. people died and i remembered them very well and i remember growing up in the war and it was a rite of passage i wanted to -- like the man said, i wanted to remember a time when people did this. i did not want that to be forgotten. (oliver stone) i served september of '67 to december of '68 in cambodia. then i was wounded twice and got out of

the president is in much better shape at 53% favorable, 45% unfavorable. let's talk about the 36% favorable for romney. how does he get it to 50%? is it doable? >> well, he has to redefine himself. the one obvious way for him to go. i mentioned ross perot before. that's the way for him to go. to emphasize the things he's good at, like management. say that the federal government is a mess, which it is. talk about things like the dodd/frank financial reform bill which is a mess. and promise to run a tighter ship and a more humane one than the president's doing. i think that that's the only direction he can go in at this point. >> is it possible, i want it start with john and back to you on that, joe. joe raised a powerful point. can a challenger like, say kennedy kid back in '60, in this time when there's so much cable, so much super pac money, can he define a theme like kennedy said, we have to get this country moving again, we're drifting. we're losing our step from world war ii. can romney say the issue is competence on the economy? i think that's all tha

today, today mitt romney is at 28% favorable, 39% unfavorable. 12k3w4r the money is going to be an issue here. santorum does have a small donor base. that's something mitt romney does not have. i heard him talk habit that last night. but there's a big donor here. at some point the romney people are going to be going to a foster freeze within the big super pac donor. will you stop? what's it going to take? >> foster freeze is the key right now. out of my own somewhat awkward connection from his appearance on our show. but he's going to have to decide whether it's worth it to stick with rick santorum. so far he's been a true believer, even though he has connections with mitt romney. >> and very quickly looking at the advertising spending that's going on over the next week and all the upcoming states, restore our future. romney's campaign is not up at all. i've been hearing rumors of money problems. does that tell you money problems? >> well, there's been extraordinary amount of money. i think the design for the race, although they say they're built for the long haul, and to a degree they a

according to the nbc wall street journal poll, mitt romney is now 28% favorable, 39% unfavorable. the primary process has had a horrible effect and so republicans are looking to start the general election, there needs to be a recovery period to get those numbers back up where mitt romney if he's the nominee, if he wins ohio, he wins tennessee, has a claim on it, that he is inevitable at that point, where he can begin the healing process. >> do you get the numbers back up by not talking about social issues, by not going for alabama and mississippi, for seeding the south to someone like gingrich or santorum assuming they won't get the nomination and leave the base alone? >> you get the numbers up by talking about issues relevant to the people, mainly the economy. talking about economic growth. offering a positive vision. all of the things that have been lacking so far in the primary is the ability to go out and to get a reset here and it's going to be important if republicans will be successful, the good news after a horrible six weeks for republicans is this. i think the structure