This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2007, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
WASHINGTON - In hypothetical match-ups, presidential candidate Mitt Romney loses to everyone. To Rudy Giuliani and John McCain for the GOP nomination, to Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards in the general election. Romney doesn't even hit double digits among the Republican field.
At least, right now, according to a new poll released Wednesday.
That's why Romney is taking a few million dollars out of the bank - that included a quick infusion of cash raised in Utah this week - and going on the airwaves to introduce himself to potential voters in Iowa, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Florida and Michigan.
Romney is the first GOP front-runner to buy airtime in the early primary states, and the poll by Quinnipiac University of Hamden, Conn., shows why he needs to spend some money.
Romney, the former head of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, claims only 7 percent of respondents for the GOP nomination, far behind Giuliani and McCain, the survey says. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich comes in at 10 percent and he hasn't even said he's running.
That sends a clear message to his campaign, says Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
“It says that people don't know who the hell he is yet,” Carroll says.
In theoretical general election match-ups, Romney loses to the leading Democratic contenders, who out-poll Romney even in red states.
But the poll also shows a bright side for Romney, who's Mormon faith may be a hindrance to his campaign since a sizable swath of American have concerns about his religion. In the hypothetical Clinton-Romney race, 55 percent of those who described themselves as born-again evangelicals support Romney, compared to 31 percent for Clinton.
Romney, who served one term as Massachusetts governor, is still fairly unknown to most Americans. Asked whether they had a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Romney, some 67 percent of respondents didn't know enough to choose.
Romney spokesman Kevin Madden says polls are a "snapshot of the present, and we recognize that Gov. Romney is not very well known on the national political scene yet, and we [are] only at the very beginning of the introductory phase of who Mitt Romney is and the issues he will be focusing on during this campaign."
Romney's out to define himself with 30-second and 60-second spots that will run for two weeks in the states first in line for the Republican presidential primary.
The ad describes Romney as “the Republican governor who turned around a Democratic state,” and a “business legend” who “rescued the Olympics.”