Poll: Romney 59% Favorable Among Republicans

Mitt Romney, the frontrunner in the Republican presidential race, is in strong shape with his party’s rank and file as the 2012 nomination race enters a more heated phase.

Among Republicans, 59 percent hold a favorable view of the former Massachusetts governor, according to a Bloomberg National Poll, while only 16 percent view him negatively. He’s also more popular than unpopular with independent voters by a 10 percentage point margin.