WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 (UPI) -- A majority of Americans polled are expressing a negative opinion on Republican Mitt Romney's campaign to win the White House, an ABC News poll indicated.
Sixty-one percent of Americans asked said they have an unfavorable opinion on how Romney has handled his presidential campaign, up 12 percentage points since mid-July, results from the ABC News-Washington Post poll released Wednesday indicated.
Thirty-five percent of respondents rated Romney's performance positively, essentially unchanged from July, results indicated.
The results follow last week's controversy over leaked comments Romney made during a May fundraiser that 47 percent of Americans don't pay income taxes, consider themselves "victims" and don't assume personal responsibility.
ABC News said 54 percent of Americans said they considered Romney's "47 percent" remark negatively while 32 percent respond favorably.
More Americans polled said they view President Obama's handling his of his re-election campaign positively than negatively, 54 percent to 43 percent, results indicated. Favorable ratings of Obama's campaign efforts gained 8 percentage points since July, ABC News said.
Negative views of his campaign rose 18 points since mid-July among independents, from 46 percent to 64 percent. Romney's positive score among independents is 32 percent, compared with a 50 percent positive rating among independents for Obama.
Twenty-seven percent of Republican respondents said they viewed Romney's efforts negative, essentially unchanged.
Eleven percent of Democrats asked said they viewed Obama's campaign in a negative light.
Results are based on nationwide interviews with 1,012 adults Sept. 19-23. The margin of error is 4 percentage points.
