MO POLL: Obama 45 (+2), Mittens 45 (-2). Obama 49, Newt 42
Obama competitive in Missouri
Barack Obama's having a good polling week. We found him leading Mitt Romney by 4 points nationally and 7 points in Ohio last weekend. And our newest Missouri poll finds the state may retain its swing state status for 2012. Obama and Romney are now tied there, a change from all of PPP's 2011 polling in the state which had found the Republican leading.
Obama's Missouri approval rating is 45% with 50% of voters disapproving. That -5 spread represents a 5 point improvement from PPP's last poll of the state in September when he was at -10 with 43% of voters approving of him and 53% disapproving. That's improvement but Obama still has a lot of work to do. He's at only 40/54 with independents and Republicans are more unified in their disapproval of him (91%) than Democrats are in their favor (83%).
Obama trailed Romney 47-43 in the fall, but has now pulled even in the state at 45%. He's benefiting from the fact that Romney is unpopular in the state. Only 30% of voters have a favorable opinion of him to 54% who view him negatively. Even in states that went for John McCain in 2008 Romney's not proving to be a particularly popular figure.
Obama leads the rest of the Republican field in Missouri. The GOP hopeful who does best other than Romney is Ron Paul who trails the President 45-43. Paul does the best with independent voters of any of the candidates, leading Obama 47-36. Rick Santorum trails Obama by a 47-44 margin.
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http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2012/02/obama-competitive-in-missouri.html
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