Obama Opens Up Double-Digit Lead on Romney

President Obama 53 percent, Mitt Romney 40 percent.

Those are the top line numbers of a new Bloomberg National Poll released Wednesday. The second takeaway: American voters see Romney as the more out-of-touch candidate of the two, 55 percent to 36 percent.

With more than four months until the general election, these are of course still the early days, and most observers expect a tightly-contested race on election day. Besides, the survey suggests that the president still has plenty of work to do to convince voters to give him another four years: Six in 10 respondents said that the country is currently heading down the wrong path.

Romney’s overall approval rating sits at 39 percent in the poll, the same as it was when he announced his candidacy a year ago. But attacks during the primary season appear to have left a decent-sized dent in his image, with his unfavorable rating jumping 17 points to 48 percent.

Romney’s ardent supporters are the most enthusiastic voters in this election cycle. Amongst less-devoted voters, however, opinions about his experience in the business and political spheres remains murky, Politico points out.

Meanwhile, Obama’s approval rating has broken the 50-percent threshold for the first time since March 2011, currently standing at 53 percent. His weakest numbers are on the economy, where just four of 10 Americans approve of the job he’s doing.

Voters have only slightly more confidence in the president to jump start the economy than his opponent. Some 48 percent backed Obama compared to 43 percent behind Romney, ultimately not a hefty show of support. "Obama is the lesser of two evils," one respondent told Bloomberg.

Despite painting a rosy picture for the Dems at this stage in the election, the tepid levels of support for both candidates reinforce what many have already anticipated: the results in November will most likely rely on voter turnout.