As reported by TPM Livewire:
A new poll from the Pew Research Center shows that the top one-word associations held by Americans about presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney are "honest" (32 percent), "businessman" (31 percent), and "rich" (31 percent), followed by "good," "conservative," and "Republican."
TPM points out that this is a significant change from the primaries.
My first thought upon reading this was "what the heck?" (I cleaned that up a bit)
My second was "there's a real opportunity, here; this is fortuitous".
You see, an impression of "honesty", if formed from lack of knowledge, is something you can do something about, especially with a target like Romney who is throwing stones on honesty from the most fragile crystal mansion one could imagine. That goes double when the establishment media is increasingly going after Romney on honesty, already.
That means that a sustained attack on Romney, pointing out his extreme dishonesty, could yield very real dividends. Happily, such a move would also counter Romney's only tactics (false attacks on Obama regarding welfare and Medicare).
Contrast that with a word like "tough" or "decisive". Both are highly questionable when it comes to descriptions of Romney, but not nearly as easily to address with the public.
So, from a strategy standpoint, I think this is actually a good thing--but as with all things, a lot depends on the execution.