recent polling from Pew Research and NBC/WSJ suggests that Romney has a real problem with the undecided voters he’s counting on to put him over the top. Approximately half of undecided voters have an unfavorable impression of Romney, while his favorability ratings are mired in the teens. That’s an average net-favorable rating of -33, which is all the more remarkable considering that about one-third of voters didn’t offer an opinion of Romney at all. Put differently, Romney is disliked by an astonishing 75 percent of undecided voters who have formulated an opinion of the Republican nominee.

Obama’s numbers aren’t much better at a net-negative 15, but they are better, with slightly less than one-third of undecided voters holding a positive opinion. And far more importantly, Obama leads among voters who have already decided, so his burden among undecided voters is considerably less than Romney's.