Gallup: Romney Leads Obama by Five (Update: Axelrod Attacks Gallup)

It’s a poll of registered voters.

These are the results when registered voters are asked: “Suppose the presidential election were held today. If Barack Obama were the Democratic Party’s candidate and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney were the Republican Party’s candidate, who would you vote for Barack Obama, the Democrat or Mitt Romney, the Republican?” Those who are undecided are further asked if they lean more toward Obama or Romney and their leanings are incorporated into the results.

Even more interesting is that Gallup shows Obama on a downward trajectory since late March. That’s around the time that the president had his open mic moment with the Russians. Obama also weighed in on the Trayvon Martin killing for the first time, making it all about himself and what he looks like as opposed to what actually may or may not have happened. It’s still early, and you’d expect to see a bounce for Romney starting last week, since that was the week that he all but clinched the nomination. But Obama’s slide started happening before then.

Update: David Axelrod sounds worried.

“Gallup is saddled with some methodological problems,” Axelrod tweeted today. He also directed Twitterati to a National Journal piece arguing that Gallup polls showing Romney in the lead “has a sample that looks much more like the electorate in 2010 than the voting population that is likely to turn out in 2012.”