(Newser)
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Mitt Romney's description of 47% of the electorate as handout-grabbers wasn't exactly a rousing success with much of the electorate, an Ipsos/Reuters poll finds. Some 43% of those polled said the video of Romney talking to Florida donors made them view the Republican nominee less favorably, while only 26% said it improved their image of him. Almost 60% said they felt Romney's remarks were unfair, and 67% said they identified more with the people he was describing than with the guests at the $50,000-per-head fundraiser. But 41% felt Romney was making a valid point about government.
"This isn't great for Romney," a pollster says. "This type of issue, a gaffe or an indiscreet remark by a candidate, has an effect on a candidate's image," she says, but—contrary to what some pundits are saying—"it is not the kind of thing that decides how people vote on Election Day." The poll found that if the election were held today, President Obama would win with 48% of the vote to Romney's 43%.
