Oct 2, 2007 7:54 am US/Eastern
New Poll Shows Massachusetts Doesn't Favor Romney
by Jon Keller
WALTHAM (WBZ) ―
Survey USA offered Massachusetts voters a series of potential matchups, including one between Hillary Clinton and the current GOP frontrunner.
As expected in the ultra blue state, Clinton beat Rudy Giuliani by 25 points. But match her up against Mitt Romney and Clinton's margin of victory is even bigger.
At this rate, Massachusetts could wind up giving Mitt Romney less support than any other state if he becomes the Republican nominee.
Why? Just listen to the earful folks in a former Romney stronghold gave me Tuesday night.
"He promised so much, and he turned out to be a disaster," said one resident.
Ouch! Who is that taking Mitt Romney to the cleaners?
Just one in a sea of Massachusetts voters making it very clear they have very bad memories of the Romney years here.
For instance, not only does Romney get folded by Hillary Clinton, he is stapled by Barack Obama in a head-to-head match up by a whopping 22 percent margin, and mutilated by John Edwards, 57 to 32 percent.
And get this.
In a Clinton-Romney match up, Clinton wins two-thirds of the moderates, more than half the independents, and even 44 percent of self-identified pro-lifers. Yikes!
Why are so many so Romney-averse? We went to downtown Waltham, a city that backed Romney in the 2002 governor's race, to sample the mood, and it wasn't good.
"People think he didn't quite live up to expectations that he set out when he was running for governor," said one woman.
"Here in Mass, I feel like we know the truth. We know a lot of his dirty little secrets and what is the truth?" said one man. "The truth is that he's an opportunist and he'll do whatever it takes to get him there."
Too harsh? Perhaps.
The Romney camp notes much of what he tried to do as governor was stalled by the Democratic legislature.
But anti-Romney sentiment reflects the fact that the self-styled turnaround king didn't turnaround us.
"The people of Massachusetts think he didn't do a very good job as governor, and they certainly don't want him in charge of the whole country as a result," said one woman.
What effect could all this have on the Romney campaign? It might even help him among right-leaning Republicans around the country -- they think we're all nuts anyway. But if he won the nomination, Romney may find himself living the title of a famous Thomas Wolfe novel: You Can't Go Home Again.
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