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Americans' attitudes toward Mitt Romney are firming up, and a new free-association poll by the Pew Research Center suggests they are now less focused on his religion and more aware of his wealth.

When 1,009 adults were asked to give a one-word response about Mitt Romney in December, the top response was "Mormon," with "rich" 18 spots down the list. Last week the same poll was repeated, and this time the top slot went to "no/no way" with "rich" right behind. Another word that shifted significantly was "flip-flopper," which fell from third to seventh.

Romney's negatives on this measure are high. With the general adult population sample (not registered or likely voters), Pew notes that 14 percent offered positive words, while 30 percent offered negative words and 29 percent used neutral terms. According to Pew, 28 percent offer no opinion, down from 43 percent in December.

December's top Romney responses were Mormon (47 percent), no/no way (23), flip-flopper (19), good (15), OK (15) and religion (10).

The current top responses for Romney are no/no way (31 percent), rich (30), good (19), Mormon (18), moderate (15), business (15), flip-flopper (11), idiot (11), possibility (11) and untrustworthy (10).

Romney also lags in favorability ratings in a new ABC/Washington Post poll of adults. Again, this is not a poll for registered voters or likely voters. It shows Romney falling to 50 percent unfavorable and 34 percent favorable and sets that against President Barack Obama's 43 percent unfavorable to 53 percent favorable status.

Jon Cohen in the Washington Post points out that in 2008, after Obama had been through a tough primary fight, his standing among independents was much higher than Romney's. "Obamas relative low point among independents in 2008 was in mid-April, when 57 percent said they had favorable impressions and 37 percent had unfavorable ones. In the new poll, Romney is underwater with independents: 35 percent view him favorably, 52 percent unfavorably," the article says.

But these polls are more emotional than intentional. More on point may be a series of Quinnipiac University polls out this week that suggest that Romney has slipped somewhat in key swing states but remains competitive.

Florida: Obama leads Romney 49 to 42 percent

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More rich, less Mormon: One-word attitudes toward Mitt Romney shift

29 March 2012 Last updated at 10:26 ET

A court in Spain has dropped a rape case against a Saudi prince over "contradictions and vagueness" in evidence from the alleged victim.

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, one of the world's richest men, was accused of raping the woman, a model, aboard a yacht moored off Ibiza in August 2008.

He denied the charge, saying he was not even in Spain at the time.

A judge ordered the case to be closed for lack of evidence in 2010 but it was re-opened on appeal from the plaintiff.

In its ruling released on Thursday, the provincial court on Palma de Majorca, capital of the Balearic Islands, ordered a stay of proceedings.

"In light of recent statements by the complainant, we cannot firmly establish with evidence what happened overnight August 11-12, 2008, on the yacht," it added.

The prince, 57, is pursuing criminal actions against the accuser, her mother and their lawyer, and professional sanctions against the lawyer for unethical behaviour.

He said in a statement that he had not even heard of the case against him until it was resurrected last September.

"No-one's character should be subject to such dishonest attacks," the statement added.

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Saudi rape case dropped in Spain

A Spanish court has dropped a rape probe against a Saudi prince who is one of the world's richest people, saying his accuser's allegations are inconsistent and do not stand up.

The ruling clearing Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, 57, was dated March 26 and released Thursday by a court in Palma in Spain's Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean.

The drugging and sexual assault of a young Spanish model was alleged to have occurred aboard a yacht moored at the island of Ibiza in the wee hours of Aug. 12, 2008. A judge on the popular resort island quietly closed the probe in 2010, citing a lack of evidence.

However, a higher provincial court in the Balearic Islands, which include Ibiza, accepted an appeal by the plaintiff and issued an order in September 2011 instructing the same magistrate to resume the probe and question the prince as a suspect.

The prince was listed 29th on the latest Forbes list of the world's richest people ,with a net worth of $18 billion. He is a leading investor in both Citigroup and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. media empire.

The prince said the court's final decision dismissing the allegations vindicates his argument that he was not even in Ibiza that day but rather in France with his wife, children, grandchildren and other witnesses.

The court in Palma said the accuser's version of events was riddled with inconsistencies in her several appearances to give testimony.

It said the woman did not initially accuse the prince by name as being her rapist. Rather, her lawyer did so much later. The court called this is a "procedural anomaly that since then has tainted the entire investigation."

The ruling also said she presented a photo of a group of people purporting to identify the prince as the man who allegedly raped her. There is an arrow pointing to a man in the background, and the word "rapist" written there. But the prince is standing in the foreground, front of that man.

The ruling says when asked about this, the accuser said it was her mother who drew the arrow on that and several other photos.

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Spain Drops Rape Probe of Saudi Prince

27-03-2012 17:21 By Charlie Treadwell March 22nd is World Water Day, and water focused nonprofits around the world will bring to your attention that nearly one billion people on our planet still live without access to life's most basic need: clean, safe drinking water. These organizations need to capture your attention, access your network, and earn your dollars. Cisco supports many nonprofits with the shared mission of clean water (learn more here), but one specific organization caught my eye today, charity: water. charity: water has been transforming the world of nonprofit marketing through their dedicated focus to digital and social media marketing. Whether that's through MyCharityWater.org where you create a profile, start and manage a fundraising campaign and activate your network through Facebook, Twitter, and email. Or through WaterForward.org where individuals activate their social networks by paying it forward. WaterForward takes the individual's control and puts it in the hands of their friends and their network, incentivizing the social sharing many marketers dream of. Watch this video to learn more about WaterForward, and check out Cisco CTO, Padmasree Warrior's book. As you can see by these two examples, charity: water's unique strategies focus on the activating individuals and asking them to engage their network, because they know, like many marketers do, that the whole of a person's network is greater than the sum of it's parts. More digital and social marketers should take ...

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Social Marketing Strategies from Nonprofit Charity: Water - Video

Unleash the Power of Social Media Marketing: Explosive Proven Strategies to Boost Your Social Media Marketing Campaign by Joe Praveen Sequeira is the definitive guide to taking the social media marketing bull by the horns and driving your business to success with a dynamic, multi-faceted strategy.

With everyone from multinational brands to teenagers with lots of free time blogging and posting on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, it can seem deceptively easy to use social media to your advantage. But, simply having a presence on the big interactive websites does nothing to ensure success. Business owners and marketing professionals who are serious about getting paying customers need the sort of detailed, solid advice that Joe Praveen Sequeira dishes up in Unleash the Power of Social Media Marketing.

Unleash the Power of Social Media Marketing provides tactics that will expose you to explosive, top tier strategies employed by the pros and transform your social media campaign into a systematic money engine! You will find some of the most powerful social marketing advice inside these pages that will help you catapult your business ahead of your competition.

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How to Unleash the Power of Social Media Marketing