Is Mitt Romney Re-electable?

Romney's disapproval ratings (click to enlarge)

For reasons that have not been explained well to me, Mitt Romney has been assumed to be a highly electable candidate for the office of the president of the United States.

Thankfully, some people are beginning to scrutinize that assumption.

But let's assume for the sake of argument that Romney can win the GOP nomination and then go on to beat Barack Obama. That would lead us to another important question: Is Mitt Romney re-electable?

Romney's record as governor of Massachusetts would raise some concern about that question. You see, Mitt Romney only served one term as governor, and looking at the precipitous drop in his approval ratings might cause one to wonder whether Romney would know how to get himself re-elected.

Mitt Romney won the Massachusetts gubernatorial election in 2002 with less than 50% of the vote (49.77%). With an underwhelming victory of that magnitude, it's no wonder Romney chose not to run for re-election.

Romney might have us believe that he could have won a second term if he had wanted it, but by the time Massachusetts voters had picked Romney's Democratic replacement in November of 2006, Romney's approval ratings were down to the low 30s and his disapproval ratings were as high as 65 percent!

Among all of the governors in the 50 states, Mitt was ranked #48 in popularity.

Why is Mitt Romney considered a safe choice for the GOP nomination?