Romney’s Massachusetts beat-down

Two new polls out of Massachusetts report that Mitt Romney is on track for an epic loss in the state where he served as governor -- possibly the worst home state beating of any presidential candidate in over a century.

A Western New England University Polling Institute poll released Tuesday reports Barack Obama leads Romney 60 percent to 38 percent, while a Public Policy Polling survey also released Tuesday has Obama ahead 57 percent to 39 percent.

It’s no surprise that Romney would be trailing in a solidly Democratic state like Massachusetts – the last 5 GOP nominees have failed to crack 37 percent there.

Still, the 18 to 22 point gap far exceeds the size of the most recent home state presidential losses suffered by Tennessee’s Al Gore in 2000 (51-47) and South Dakota’s George McGovern in 1972 (54-46) and is on par with Adlai Stevenson’s 1956 Illinois loss (60-40) and Herbert Hoover’s 1932 California loss (58-37).

Romney’s favorability ratings are just as weak: 56 percent of likely Massachusetts voters have an unfavorable opinion of Romney, compared to 34 percent who have a favorable opinion.

While the good news is that tiny, embattled band of Massachusetts Republicans think highly of Romney and plan to vote for him, it’s still not at the same level of partisan devotion as Obama – Romney has support from 91 percent of Bay State Republicans, compared to 97 percent of Democrats for Obama.