This may be the most dramatic evidence yet of the president's political turnaround:
President Barack Obama’s approval rating is 53 percent, up 9 percentage points in four months. Matched up against his Republican opponents, he leads Mitt Romney by 10 points (53-43) and Rick Santorum by 11 (53-42). Even against a generic, unnamed Republican untarnished by attacks, Obama is up 5 percentage points. In November, he was tied. …
Despite his improved standing, Obama remains under water on the three issues most important to voters: 51 percent disapprove of his handling of the economy, 50 percent on jobs and 59 percent on government spending and the budget deficit.
But even among voters who name jobs and the economy as the issue they’re most concerned about, Obama leads his would-be Republican rivals.
GOP pollsters Ed Goeas and Brian Nienaber -- who conduct the poll in tandem with the Democratic firm Lake Research -- point out that the long, bloody Republican primary has driven a majority of voters away from every candidate except the still-comparatively unknown Rick Santorum:
Rick Santorum, who is essentially the new kid on the block, has a favorable image with a plurality of the electorate (39% favorable to 36% unfavorable), but the other three Republican candidates are “upside down” with their unfavorable image exceeding their favorable image with the overall electorate. The candidates who have been in the national spotlight longer – Gingrich (26% favorable to 62% unfavorable) and Romney (38% favorable to 51% unfavorable) – have actually reached a majority unfavorable rating while Ron Paul (30% favorable to 46% unfavorable) holds a plurality unfavorable rating. The bottom line being, this is a trend that must be reversed before the general election if Republicans expect to be truly competitive in the fall in the Presidential election.
Much more on the poll is available here.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/burns-haberman/2012/02/politicogw-poll-obama-over-against-deeply-disliked-115641.html
