Four Months to Go: Campaign Exhausting But Informative.. Important But Dull

Romney Viewed as More Personally Critical

More voters say that both presidential candidates have been too personally critical of each other than did so at this point in the 2008 campaign.

Currently, 43% of registered voters say Mitt Romney has been too personally critical of Barack Obama, while 49% say he has not. Three-in-ten voters (30%) say Obama has been too critical of Romney, while about twice as many (61%) disagree.

In June 2008, just 26% of voters said John McCain was too personally critical of Obama, while even fewer (19%) said Obama was too critical of McCain.

Perceptions today are similar to the last time an incumbent was running for reelection. In June 2004, 44% of voters said John Kerry was too personally critical of George W. Bush, about the same as the percentage saying that about Romney today. And 33% said the Bush was being too critical of Kerry, similar to the 30% that say that about Obama today.

Campaign Ads Seen as Mix of Positive, Negative

With more than four months to go until Election Day, most voters (64%) say they have already seen or heard commercials about Romney and/or Obama. But just 16% say they have seen a lot of campaign ads at this early point in the race.

Voters in the closely contested battleground states are more likely than those in relatively safe Republican or Democratic states to have seen presidential campaign ads. Still, only about quarter (24%) of the voters in those states have seen a lot of ads, compared with 12% of voters in Republican and Democratic states.

Most (60%) who have seen or heard presidential campaign commercials this year say they have been a mix of positive and negative ads. Another 30% say the ads they have seen have been mostly negative, while just 7% say they have been mostly positive. This is comparable in both battleground and non-battleground states.

Read the rest of the survey at the Pew People and Press site.

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