The Quinnipiac polls are among the best in the biz. And, three new polls from three key swing states show Romney in trouble. People remain skeptical about Obama on the issue that matters the most to them, the economy, but as Aaron Blake notes in this post, they are willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and they are not giving Romney the benefit of the doubt.
This means Romney faces a choice. He must find a way to connect to voters better or begin running really harsh, negative ads against the president, the kinds of ads John McCain refused to run in 2008. My guess is that we can look for the campaign to get a whole lot uglier in the weeks ahead.