Is Obama hurting his chances by going so negative?

“There is some validity to the point that we lose something” by attacking Romney, said one senior Democratic strategist active in the campaign…

“Obama’s got this Reagan thing going, the 1983, 1984 dynamic — he’s personally popular even though people aren’t personally enthralled with his policies or performance,” said Frank Luntz, a veteran Republican pollster who thinks Romney’s lack of personal appeal guarantees a deadlocked race until the end. “But his campaign has gone very negative, and at some point, people are going to stop giving him the benefit of the doubt.”…

“There are two reasons Romney is doing better — he’s consolidated the Republican base … and the economy has plateaued, and not at a great level,” said Brown, whose organization regularly polls battleground states.

“The danger for Obama in these attacks on Romney is that he starts sounding like other pols, and people just start hitting the ‘mute’ button,” he added. “When you stand behind the glass and watch a focus group, you hear independents say things like, ‘He seems like a nice guy, but why is he throwing all of these shots at Romney?’”