>>> we have a new nbc news "wall street journal" poll tonight, which means more bad news for mitt romney. >>> a couple of new polls out. the new nbc news "wall street journal" poll -- >> polls -- >> polls indicate -- >> we've got months of this. >> this is the first full week of the full-on campaign. round one of the general election. >> i'm probably going to need a helmet between now and november. what do you think? >> a poll out today shows the president up. >> 42% of registered voters have a favorable view of the president -- >> this is a snapshot in time. >> does 29% see romney in a favorable light? >> president obama leads by ten points in the enthusiasm gap. >> the likability factor is part of all of this. >> and the trustworthy thing. >> romney has a lot more baggage than the president. >> i wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth. >> i know the president likes to attack fellow americans, particularly those successful like my dad. >> the "new york times" poll shows the candidate lost in a dead heat. >> i'll use my energy to help the american people go to work. >> everywhere he

. >>> we have a new nbc news "wall street journal" poll tonight, which means more bad news for mitt romney. >>> a couple of new polls out. the new nbc news "wall street journal" poll -- >> polls -- >> polls indicate -- >> we've got months of this. >> this is the first full week of the full-on campaign. round one of the general election. >> i'm probably going to need a helmet between now and november. what do you think? >> a poll out today shows the president up. >> 42% of registered voters have a favorable view of the president -- >> this is a snapshot in time. >> does 29% see romney in a favorable light? >> president obama leads by ten points in the enthusiasm gap. >> the likability factor is part of all of this. >> and the trustworthy thing. >> romney has a lot more baggage than the president. >> i wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth. >> i know the president likes to attack fellow americans, particularly those successful like my dad. >> the "new york times" poll shows the candidate lost in a dead heat. >> i'll use my energy to help the american people go to work. >> everywhere he

the new nbc news "wall street journal" poll -- >> polls -- >> polls indicate -- >> we've got months of this. >> this is the first full week of the full-on campaign. round one of the general election. >> i'm probably going to need a helmet between now and november. what do you think? >> a poll out today shows the president up. >> 42% of registered voters have a favorable view of the president -- >> this is a snapshot in time. >> does 29% see romney in a favorable light? >> president obama leads by ten points in the enthusiasm gap. >> the likability factor is part of all of this. >> and the trustworthy thing. >> romney has a lot more baggage than the president. >> i wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth. >> i know the president likes to attack fellow americans, particularly those successful like my dad. >> the "new york times" poll shows the candidate lost in a dead heat. >> i'll use my energy to help the american people go to work. >> everywhere he goes, he's talking about the economy. >> this election will be based on the facts of the economy. >> the economy. >> the economy. >> w

as mark mentioned in the polls especially "the wall street journal" nbc poll, romney has a slight edge on who you can handle the economy but huge deficits on can relate to people like you on the personal stuff so does romney try to build that up. i guess he does but i guess he is not going to win a popularity contest, an elegance contest with barack obama. so what he has to do is say it's not about me, first of all it is about obama but i will offer you these four things i will deliver as president. and he really hasn't told the story of what the next four years will look like. so we can't just say i'm a businessman, trust me, i know how to run a business. i think he says i'm going do a, b, c and d, you may not like me but hire me to do these things and i will do them for you. i think that's really the gap he has to fill. and the obama people have to decide if they are didding to attack romney as an extremist or flip florp. you can't do both. and so they have to make that decision. these days they seem to be heading in the extremist direction which i think is the wrong direction. >> wo

as mark mentioned in the polls especially "the wall street journal" nbc poll, romney has a slight edge on who you can handle the economy but huge deficits on can relate to people like you on the personal stuff so does romney try to build that up. i guess he does but guess he is not going to win a popularity contest, an elegance contest with barack obama. so what he has to do is say it's not about me, first of all it is about obama but i will offer you these four things i will deliver as president. and he really hasn't told the story of what the next four years will look like. so we can't just say i'm a businessman, trust me, i know how to run a business i think he says i'm going do a, b, c and d, you may not like me but hire me to do these things and i will do them for you. i think that's really the gap he has to fill. and the obama people have to decide if they are didding to attack romney as an extremist or flip florp. you can't dooth. and so they have to make that decision. these days they seem to be heading in the extremist direction which i think is the wrong direction. >> woodruf

>> just wait for the nbc eternal polls. we're seeing where it all is. the president has a slight advantage. romney has some work to do. it looks like we're heading to 2004 because all the numbers say that. they have the wrong electorate out there. with registered voters, you don't know what a voter sample looks like six months out. >> you can do all adults, you can do registered voters, which is helpful, but the best poll is likely voters. >> not now, because you have people who are going to vote who won't necessarily say they're ready to vote. they're not paying attention. >> cwhen can we get a look at likely voters? >> labor day. >> traditionally you switch over to likely voters after labor day. >> some people believe you get a good look at the economy between now and june and that's when you really decide the election on economic bread and butter. are we getting close to that? >> the earlier numbers in this poll about whether the fairness message is registering or the freedom messages registering for mitt romney are interesting but somewhat beyond th

points ahead in your poll, six points ahead in that nbc poll. there were 13 at ributes in that nbc poll and the president led 11 of those 13 and including advocacy for the middle class, which is really central for this election. >> thank you. i just have to add our poll of polls had it at a dead even race actually but when we put all the polls -- >> so do you think your poll was inaccurate? the cnn poll is inaccurate? >> i would never attack our pollster. >> well, i wouldn't either. >> thank you so much for your time. >> okay. >>> freshman senator marco rubio joins mitt romney tomorrow in the battleground state of pennsylvania. is it a job audition? my exclusive interview with senator rubio is next. >> three, four, five, six, seven years from now if i do a good job as vice president -- i'm sorry. as a senator. >> you all got that, right? oh! [ baby crying ] ♪ what started as a whisper ♪ every day, millions of people choose to do the right thing. ♪ slowly turned to a scream ♪ there's an insurance company that does that, too. liberty mutua

that nbc poll showing romney up seven points. the romney war room thinks it could be more than that. could be double digits. ten points. maryland, d.c., also likely to be big romney wins. in part because that's another area where santorum failed to get on the ballot. so the romney folks think that this might be the night that the press finally says the general has begun. you mentioned the joint fund raising between the party and romney. that's the party officially saying it's time to move on and yesterday the obama campaign released its first commercial that attacks romney by name. so it's on both sides saying the general election is going on. increasingly, gingrich and santorum risk being portrayed as dead-enders who are helping obama by dragging their heels. >> even newt gingrich has pulled back a little bit in his campaign, scaling down his staff. one not ready to move on is rick santorum. at what point do you think he'll be compelled to get out of the race. we'll see how he does in his home state on april 24th. and then feels

the latest nbc news wall street journal poll tells two different stories. head to head, the president leads romney by 6 points, but on the economy it's reversed with romney leading by 6. that's basically the problem here, isn't it? >> well, no -- >> that's your challenge. >> no significant education has been done about governor romney's economic record yet, and when people find out he made a series of promises when he ran for office in massachusetts in 2002 that he didn't fulfill. he said that government would be smaller, there would be lower taxes, less debt,ç job acceleration would grow. government grew in terms of the number of public sector employees, in terms of spending. $750 million of higher taxes a year. we're hearing those same promises right now. he didn't fulfill them in massachusetts. >> remember, he's a brilliant banker. >>> as we go to break, we take a moment to remember the birthday of the late, great bob marley. ♪ [ captain ] sorry folks, our landing time got moved back another hour. [ crowd chatters and groans ] ♪ ♪ [ male announce

the nbc poll out is the latest to show romney's favorability numbers rebounding. on top of which, his supporters say he has the edge on the most important issue this year, the economy. obviously it's a long way away from the election, but how serious are these poll numbers? >> well, the poll numbers this far out are historically really bad indicators. another thing is there's been a lot of back and forth, a lot of swinging in the polls. i mean, your own cnn poll a whole two days ago had the president up by ten. but in any case you're going to see these polls move back and forth. there's some mythological questions i think with some of these polls' movement back and forth. that aside, i think you'll see the republicans now rallying around mitt romney and i think sort of some of the strength in his numbers you see with the primary over, republicans rallying around him. if you look at some of the internals of the polling, there's still a lot of problems for mitt romney there. when you look at who's more on the side of middle class families, you know, in your own poll

maybe you have seen the new nbc poll too. 71% of people are more likely to vote for someone that says this country is better off when everyone gets a fair shot. it's a powerful message, all the more powerful when you actuallyly mean actually mean it. >> this is personal. we can't price out folks that are trying to succeed for themselves but help the country succeed. we can't price the middle class out of a college education. we can't do it. >> joining me now are two men who know what the fight for fairness is all about and have demonstrated that in their work, congressman, jim mcdermott. thank you for being with me tonight. congressman, let me start with you. what's your take on midromney's newfound concern for fairness as he sees it? >> you know, al, he has done what people said he was going to do. he sailed far to the right to make sure he could get the nomination, and now he is forsa forsaken, mitt romney is off the boat, and trying to sound like barack obama. this is a guy that wants to get rid of food stamps, wants to raise the interest rates on students when he is running. now t

a new nbc poll just came out. this is fascinating among the numbers. let's take a lookç at this. obama versus romney. look at these numbers. among latinos, take a look at this group. 69% to 22% among latinos. that's a pretty strong set of numbers there, 69 to 22. among younger voters, 18 to 34. 60% to 34%. women, 53% to 31%. independent voters, 31-34. these numbers almost triumphant for the president. how does mitt romney change the minds of latinos he's sort of been bashing all this campaign saying he wants them to self-deport. and younger people, how does he become hip? how does he convince women he's not from the yahoo party, and how does he get independents to vote for him when he's been a right winger. >> i feel it's very, very early. polls can't -- we're still months away from the general election in november. >> they can't win this way. the pundits will lose if it stays the way it is in the latino community. >> i was confused. i don't think a republican can win with those kinds of numbers. of the numbers you showed there, those are the most important. >> we have time to wo

the nbc poll out is the latest to show romney's numbers favorability numbers rebounding. on top of his supporters say he has the edge on the most important issue this year, the economy. obviously it's a long way away from the election, but how serious are these poll numbers. >> well, the poll numbers this far out are historically really bad indicators. another thing is there's been a lot of back and forth, a lot of swinging in the polls. i mean, your own cnn poll, a whole two days ago, had the president up by ten. but in any case you're going to see these polls move back and forth. there's some mythological questions i think with some of these polls' movement back and forth. that aside, i think you'll see the republicans now rallying around mitt romney and i think sort of the strength in his numbers you see with the primary over, republicans rallying around him. if you look at some of the internals of the polling, there's still a lot of problems for mitt romney there. when you look at who's more on the side of middle class families. you know, in your own polling, presiden

the nbc poll out is the latest to show romney's numbers rebounding, on top of his his supporters say he has the edge on the most important issue this year, the economy. obviously it's a long way away from the election, but how serious are these poll numbers. >> well, the poll numbers this far out are historically really bad indicators. another thing is there's been a lot of back and forth, a lot of swinging in the polls. your own cnn a whole two days ago had the president up by ten. but in any case you're going to see these polls move back and forth. there's some questions that i think with some of these polls' movement back and forth. that aside, i think you'll see the republicans now rallying around mitt romney and i think sort of the strength in his numbers you see with the primary over, republicans rally around him. if you look at some of the internals of the polling, there's still a lot of problems for mitt romney there. when you look at who's more on the side of middle class families. you know, in your own polling, president obama is up by better than ten points. you know, whos

reuters, pew, gallup to name a few, and of course nbc's poll is out late they are week. #goldstandard. anna, karen, and pete, anna, it's funny. there seems to be a convergence. we had gallup being one direction that doesn't make a lot of sense, cnn had a blowout going the other direction that didn't make a lot of sense. pew has it four points. i feel like we're seeing where the race really is. >> i think i've got poll hangover. >> don't say that until after thursday at 3:00 p.m. >> gold standard. of course. this is going to be a very close race. i think there are some interesting numbers like the hispanic numbers that are coming out that will be quite illuminating. >> looking at the pew, the hispanic number jumped out at a lot of people and that seemed to be big. >> right. >> the two demographic groups that romney dominated in the primaries, folks have made over 100,000 and college educated, losing. >> right. if you look at the overall trend, everyone was saying the primary was so horrible for mitt romney, but he's closing that gap -- >> moving fast. a rally. >> moving f

reuters, pew, gallup to name a few, and of course nbc's poll is out late they are week. #goldstandard. anna, karen, and pete, anna, it's funny. there seems to be a convergence. we had gallup being one direction that doesn't make a lot of sense, cnn had a blowout going the other direction that didn't make a lot of sense. pew has it four points. i feel like we're seeing where the race really is. >> i think i've got poll hangover. >> don't say that until after thursday at 3:00 p.m. >> gold standard. of course. this is going to be a very close race. i think there are some interesting numbers like the hispanic numbers that are coming out that will be quite illuminating. >> looking at the pew, the hispanic number jumped out at a lot of people and that seemed to be bi demographic groups that romney dominated in the primaries, folksa 100,000 and college educated, losing. >> right. if you look at the overall trend, everyone was saying the primary was so horrible for mitt romney, but he's closing that gap -- >> moving fast. a rally. >> moving fast. it's what we all knew was going

points ahead in your poll, six points achead in that nbc poll. the president led on 11 of the 13 attributes including advocacy for the middle class which is really central to this election. >> thank you. i just have to add our poll of polls had it at a dead even race actually but when we put all the polls -- >> so do you think your poll was inaccurate? the cnn poll is inaccurate? >> i would never attack our pollster. >> well, i wouldn't either. >> thank you so much for your time. >> okay. >>> marco rubio joins mitt romney tomorrow in the battleground state of pennsylvania. is it a job audition? my exclusive interview with senator rubio is next. >> three, four, five, six, seven years from now if i do a good job as vice president -- i'm sorry. as a senator. >> you all got that, right? jen's car wasn't handling well. so i brought it to mike at meineke. we gave her car a free road handling check. i like free. free is good. my money. my choice. my meineke. >>> florida senator marco rubio is a rising star in the republican party and a tea party favorit

an nbc poll puts romney ahead of there, santorum with 33%. the former massachusetts governor is encouraged. >> i've got a ways to go before i get 1,144 delegates. i'm not counting the delegates before they hatch. but i'm going to keep working very hard. and hope i get a good strong sendoff from wisconsin. i've got a good boost from the folks in illinois. and if i can get that boost also from wisconsin, i think we'll be on a path that will get me the nomination well before the convention. sure hope so. >> our shannon travis is in milwaukee, wisconsin, so shannon, what's the mood like in wisconsin just two days away before that primary? >> reporter: yeah, fred, i would say the mood is one of anticipation and resignation. you mentioned the polls are showing romney is doing well here. a lot of people certainly anticipate he'll have a strong showing, if not outright just take this contest. he's obviously gotten the trio of major endorsements from wisconsinites, senator ron johnson, paul ryan, as well as the endorsement of the newspaper, the milwau

the right track, wrong track number is 60% in our poll, in the nbc poll. 60% believe we're on the wrong track. that's not good news for president obama. you're right if the election were held today, he would win. it's not being held today. weç don't know whether the economy in the next few months might do what it did in 2010 and 2011, which is sag in the summer. if that happens, this is going to be a very close election. americans are very focused on the economy. the other issues peripheral for them. >> if there's one month or two months where there's negative numbers, that's only going to bolster the case. that clearly it seems is what romney is going to run on. he's so far behind with latinos, does he worry about that? >> yeah. they've had many meetings about that. >> what can they do? >> the first thing they did is had marco rubio retreat from the rubio-romney opposition to the dream act. he came up with a like fudge sort of half dream act that would give young immigrants who were brought here by their parents some sort of status, legal status short of citizenship. >> would that be

the latest nbc news/marist poll shows romney up seven points over santorum in the badger state. even the influential billionaire koch brothers seem focused on the fall campaign as well, reportedly funding a mul multimillion dollar ad buy, hitting the president on high gas prices. >> since obama became president, gas prices have nearly doubled. >> reporter: but despite the rallying cries around romney, rick santorum continued firing at his health care history, saying he's uniquely disqualified to debate the issue with the president while acknowledging his own uphill battle to remain in contention for the republican nomination. >> why have we always lost? well, because the republican mantra is always we have to take someone who's moderate, who can appeal, and therefore, we can win. and we've lost. >> reporter: now, last night, mitt romney picked up another endorsement, thaft "milwaukee journal sentinel" newspaper. rick santorum said the campaign is far from over, but he would not be unrealistic, if and when the time comes to yield the nomination to mitt romney. back to you, lester

, the nbc news/"wall street journal" poll. >> absolutely. >> guys, thank you so much. former ohio governor, ted strickland. michelle bernard, we appreciate it. >>> an incredible feat in baseball. we bring you the numbers behind one game last night and how it relates to space travel. oooh, what's her secret? [ male announcer ] dawn hand renewal with olay beauty. improves the look and feel of hands in just five uses. [ sponge ] soft, smooth... fabulous! [ male announcer ] dawn does more... [ sponge ] so it's not a chore. farmer who says... [farmer:] we've gotta protect the land. [announcer:] and, to the consumer who says... [consumer:] the economists make some good points. [announcer:] conocophillips says, you're right. find out how natural gas answers both at powerincooperation.com. all your important legal matters in just minutes. now it's quicker and easier for you to start your business... protect your family... and launch your dreams. at legalzoom.com, we put the law on your side. >>> let's go to politics now. and the state level in connecticut, state representative

the latest nbc news/marist poll shows romney up seven points over santorum in the badger state. even the influential billionaire koch brothers seem focused on the fall campaign as well, reportedly funding a multimillion dollar ad buy, hitting the president on high gas prices. >> since obama became president, gas prices have nearly doubled. >> reporter: but despite the rallying cries around romney, rick santorum continued firing at his health care history, saying he's uniquely disqualified to debate the issue with the president while acknowledging his own uphill battle to remain in contention for the republican nomination. >> why have we always lost? well, because the republican mantra is always we have to take someone who's moderate, who can appeal, and therefore, we can win. and we've lost. >> reporter: now, last night, mitt romney picked up another endorsement, that of the "milwaukee journal sentinel" newspaper. rick santorum said the campaign is far from over, but he would not be unrealistic, if and when the time comes to yield the nomination to mitt romney. back to you, lest

an nbc/marist poll gives romney a lead in wisconsin with 40% of the vote. santorum comes in with 33%. let's bring in cnn's shannon travis. he's in milwaukee. so, shannon, there are those who say, if romney wins, then it's all over for santorum. so tuesday, is it make or break for those gop candidates? >> reporter: yeah, fred, there's a growing chorus of people who are saying that if mitt romney wins here on tuesday, that it's over for santorum. obviously, santorum, the candidate himself says, no, it's not. that he's going to go on. that voters deserve a choice. but if you look at what's happened within just the past few days, we obviously know that president george h.w. bush, florida senator marco rubio, house budget chairman paul ryan, today, senator ron johnson from this state, all endorse romney, even the paper, the "milwaukee journal sentinel" here in wisconsin endorsed romney also. and it started out its endorsement saying, you know, if romney has a convincing win here, it's pretty much all over, although it did also say they wonder which romney they w

poll last week that showed fairness beats the stuff that he has been selling. your thoughts? >> well, chris, i mean, first of all, i think there's no question that it is a problem to try to co-op this theme of the democrats for mitt romney. i think any discussion of fairness is largely defined behind democratic terms so you have conversations about the tax code and those conversations are to the presidents and democrats advantage. i think what rm knee campaign is trying to do here is trying to do something they have been doing and quite effectively for a little while. which is to say, we won't seed any turf to this president. well fight, not let you have ground, that you can have just uncontested. that is a fighter stance and it works well with republican voters. might even work well with voters in the middle. as you say, i think you end up playing on president's turf. but this language issue as you just pointed out, there is a mile, more than a mile, many miles, an ocean of difference between respect and congratulations and congratulate any politician seen on

poll turns out, almost every demographic is good for romney. they haven't take tennessee state for granted. i think they have done a pretty decent job of going after santorum through various means and turning to the general election, which is where the focus and most of the political world is now given what the president has done in the last 72 hours and what the romney campaign has done. >> is wisconsin in play legitimately in the fall? i think ronald reagan was the last republican to capture the state. >> i would say ask me about the recall. i'm referring to scott walker, republican governor there. the recall is on the ballot for june. the theory goes like this. this is a state that leans democratic if all things are equal. if republicans win this raum and walker survives, they believe it demoralizes the democratic base a little bit in wisconsin, demoralizes labor. does show this state can be fully in play and competitive as it was in 2004 when this was a state that karl rove was obsessed over trying to carry against john carey. if walker los

the shooting remains under investigation. >>> in the race to the white house, the new nbc/paris poll shows romney leading santorum. romney is up seven points, off a week of key endorsements. today he appeared ever more confident in the wisconsin contest, a victory there could be widely seen as the effective end of the primary race. romney, rick santorum and newt gingrich all spoke at a forum near milwaukee, but the former massachusetts governor ignored his gop competitors, instead sent zingers toward president obama. >> the president says he wants to transform america. i don't want to transform america. i want to restore to america the principles that made us the hope of the earth and together we're going to do that on tuesday and every it day it thereafter until we get back the white house. >> despite the rallying cries around romney, santorum continued firing at his rival's conservative credentials. several voiced reservations about romney but say they would likely support him if he's the nominee. >>> today's storms are churning up rough waters along the coast. the national weather

the latest nbc news marist poll shows romney up seven points over santorum in the badger state. even the coch brothers seemed focused on the campaign as well, funding a multi-million dollar ad buy hitting the president on high gas prices. >> since obama became president, gas prices have nearly doubled. >> reporter: but rick santorum continued firing at his health care history, saying he's uniquely disequalled to debate the issue to the president while acknowledging his battle to remain in contention. >> one of the campaigns for president a week or so again suggested that it would take an act of god for rick santorum to win the republican nomination for president. well, i don't know about you, but i believe in act of gods. >> reporter: as for heeding calls to get out of the race, today, rick santorum again said this campaign is far from over, but hinted he would not be unrealistic when or if the time comes to yield the nomination to mitt romney. >> and rick santorum and chuck schumer will be among the guests tomorrow morning on "meet the press" and tuesday morning, a "today" show