Expectations that Mitt Romney will be able to defeat President Obama in November have slid down significantly over the last four months, according to National Journal's latest Insider's poll.
Insiders of both parties gave the president a moderate to high chance of winning his bid for re-election. When asked to rate his prospects on a scale of 0 to 10, with 0 being no chance and 10 being virtual certainty, Democrats gave Obama an average score of 7.7, a 0.6-point increase from when the question was last asked in late April. Republicans meanwhile gave their opponent a 5.8, representing a 0.9-point uptick.
The results are no doubt a reflection of a rough start to the general election for the Romney campaign, between a national convention that produced no significant polling bounce, the candidate's controversial statement on the U.S. embassy attack in Libya as well as leaked video of a Romney fundraiser where he dismissed the 47 percent of Americans who don't pay income tax as government-dependent freeloaders.
Insiders of both parties largely agreed that Obama's chances were bolstered not by his own doing but by a weak challenger.