Washington Post/ABC News poll shows more Bain pain for Mitt Romney

Campaigning in Ohio, John Boehner feels Mitt Romney's Bain pain (Larry Downing/Reuters) The latest Washington Post/ABC News survey shows a dead heat of 47 percent each for President Obama and Mitt Romney, but if you look past the horserace there's some very bad news for Romney when it comes to how voters view his record as CEO of Bain Capital, particularly in battleground states.

Here's the numbers among registered voters throughout the nation:

Question: Is Romney's work buying and restructuring companies before he went into politics a major reason you to (support) that candidate, a major reason you to (oppose) that candidate, or not a major factor in your vote?

Reason to support: 23
Reason to oppose: 24
Not a major factor: 50

Question: In his work as a corporate investor, do you think Romney did more to (create jobs) or more to (cut jobs) in the United States?

Did more to cut jobs: 42
Did more to create jobs: 37

On a national basis, the numbers are fairly mixed, with a slight tilt against Romney. But given that Romney's entire claim to the presidency depends on a positive perception of his time at Bain, a mixed result isn't good enough. The bigger problem, however, is that the election isn't a national one, and in the states that matter most'the states where President Obama and Priorities USA are hammering Romney hardest over Bain'Bain is becoming a clear negative.

Here's those same questions, but in the eight battleground states that the Washington Post has identified as tossups (Nevada, Colorado, Iowa, Wisconsin, Ohio, New Hampshire, Virginia, and Florida):

Question: Is Romney's work buying and restructuring companies before he went into politics a major reason you to (support) that candidate, a major reason you to (oppose) that candidate, or not a major factor in your vote?

Reason to support: 16
Reason to oppose: 32
Not a major factor: 49

Question: In his work as a corporate investor, do you think Romney did more to (create jobs) or more to (cut jobs) in the United States?

Did more to cut jobs: 34 48
Did more to create jobs: 48 34

These numbers essentially confirm the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll showing the same sort of battleground Bain pain for Romney. The silver lining for Romney here is probably that there's still a lot of people who haven't decided one way or the other about Bain, but to the extent that voters have focused on it, it's a drag on Mitt Romney'and he still hasn't figured out how to turn the story around.

8:00 AM PT: I accidentally reversed the numbers in the battleground states cut/create jobs question. The correct numbers: 48 percent said Romney had done more to cut jobs at Bain, 34 precent said create jobs.