Romney Losing Traction in Swing States

On the heels of yesterday's Onsight/Project New America poll in Colorado showing President Barack Obama with a growing edge over challenger Mitt Romney--especially among the key bloc of unaffiliated voters--the Los Angeles Times reports this morning on new polls out in the fellow swing states of Ohio, Virginia, Florida, and New Hampshire:

New polls in four battleground states show President Obama holding a lead of 5 to 7 points over Republican nominee Mitt Romney, reinforcing the national surveys that indicate that the incumbent gained ground with his convention last week.

Of the four, Obama's largest lead comes in the critical state of Ohio, where he leads Romney 50% to 43% among likely voters, according to the latest NBC/Wall St. Journal/Marist University poll.  The survey also polled likely voters in Florida, where Obama led 49% to 43%, and Virginia, where he led 49% to 44%.

In a separate survey by New Hampshire's WMUR-TV, Obama led Romney 45% to 40% in that state...

The new swing-state polls show two reasons why Obama has maintained that lead: Voters continue to view him more favorably than Romney, and Romney has been unable to persuade swing-state voters that he would be better able to handle the economy.

There's a worthwhile caution in this story about the timing of these polls, and the possible temporary nature of Obama's "convention bounce"--with the implicit acknowledgement that Romney never got one. With that said, the persistent and growing favorability gap between Obama and Romney, and ongoing weakness for Romney on the handling even of "core GOP issues" like the economy, is a common thread in all of the polling we've seen this week.

Those underlying facts suggest a trajectory, not a "bounce."