Fox News recently conducted a poll between Obama and Romney in the battleground state of Ohio. The top line result (Obama 45%, Romney 39%) was not particularly newsworthy since Obama’s lead is within the margin of error and horse race polls this far ahead of an election aren’t particularly reliable. However, I did find one of the cross tabs to be rather startling, even if predictable. Via Fox News:

While the president’s support is mostly affirmative, Romney’s support is mainly  anti-Obama:  63 percent of those backing the Republican say they would be  voting “against Obama” rather than “for” Romney (29 percent).  The opposite  is true for Obama.  Of those backing the president, 71 percent say they are  mainly voting “for” him rather than “against Romney” (22 percent).

This poll applies only to Ohio, of course, but a national Fox poll in March found a similar result, even if not quite as dramatic:

For comparison, a recent Fox News national poll found 54 percent of Romney’s  supporters are more “against Obama” rather than “for” him (40 percent) (March  2012).

Romney’s electoral hopes in November rest overwhelmingly on his being the ”lesser of two evils”.  This is what happens when the Establishment, rather than the base, picks our candidate and is illustrative of just how little enthusiasm the Mittster generates among the grass roots. Nobody is excited about voting “for” Mitt Romney. Most of his support, if you can call it that, is a result of the fact that he’s not Barack Obama.  Will this be enough to energize conservatives to go all out for Mr. Etch-a-Sketch in November?  I’m skeptical.