Poll: Obama holds double digit leads over Romney and Santorum
Washington (CNN) - President Barack Obama holds double digit leads over the top two GOP presidential candidates, according to a new national survey.
A Politico/George Washington University Battleground Poll released Monday indicates Obama topping former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney 53% to 43% in a hypothetical general election matchup, with the president leading former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania 53% to 42%.
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Matched up against a generic GOP opponent in the general election (an unnamed candidate who has not suffered negative attacks during the primary process), Obama has a five-point advantage (50%-45%), up from a dead heat back in November. It's also telling that the president is at or above 50% in all three general election matchups.
A new national poll from USA Today/Gallup tells a different story. According to the survey, which was also released Monday, Obama and Romney are deadlocked at 47% in a hypothetical matchup, with Santorum holding a 49%-46% margin over the president.
The Battleground poll indicates that the debates, caucuses and primaries appear to be taking a toll on Romney, with 51% of independent voters holding a unfavorable opinion of him, compared to just 33% who see him in a positive light. Among independents, Romney trails the president by 22 points in the hypothetical general election matchup. Forty percent of independents have a favorable view of Santorum, with 32% saying they see him in a negative way.
Among Republicans only, the battle for the GOP nomination appears to be all tied up, with Santorum at 36% and Romney at 34%. Santorum's two-point margin is within the poll's sampling error. The survey is similar to the Gallup Daily Tracking Poll's numbers on the Republican horse race.
Four out of ten say that Romney has run the most negative campaign, followed by Gingrich at 33% and Santorum and Paul each at 4%, with nearly one in five unsure.
The Politico/George Washington University Battleground Poll was conduced between February 19 and February 22, with 1,000 likely voters nationwide questioned by telephone. The survey's overall sampling error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
The USA Today/Gallup poll was conducted between February 20 and February 21, with 881 registered voters questioned by telephone. The survey's sampling error is plus or minus four percentage points.
Buh Bye racist republicans, better luck in 2016. Your stone age, religious mumbo jumbo has been wholeheartedly rejected by the American people, time for a new strategy crazies. You'll have 4 long years to figure one out. Buh bye!
40% of independents have a favorable view of Santorum?????? The ignorance in this country is truly scary. We have one shot at life, these neoconservatives spend it being angry and hurtful to others. Yes I am proud to be liberal – progressive, inclusive, hard working and just plain nice.
The President is an intelligent man. Put him in a debate with Newt or Santorum (or Palin - please!) and let the fun begin.
Who in the world would ever believe a Politico Poll to begin with, The Pres would lose to any republican CANIDATE.
As someone who took a statistics class, I applaud CNN for reporting the survey's sampling error.
so obama bought more people.
Negative poll of obama: fact based gospel proven with hard data.
Positive poll of obama: liberal msm propaganda with a blatant socialist agenda.
The more repubs talk the more people realize what a terrible alternative any gop contender would be... now let's give him a functioning congress.
How's that "Hope & change" working for you....?! and, this Poll suggests you might get four more years of it with no holds-barred! Lots of time to complete the damage!
"Forty percent of independents have a favorable view of Santorum"
That's only because most people don't know Santorum beyond what he shares about himself. I lived in Pennsylvania when Santorum was a senator and I'm confident independents will think he is a nutcase after when they start digging a little deeper.
Obama holds double digit lead over Santorum and Romney. Does not seem right when he is clearly twice the man over anyone in the GOP fiield. Soon Obama will crush them in a general election.
The GOP can fool their Christian Taliban, but the rest of us are not playiing. Jesus likes those who take care of the less fortunate, and none of those are Republicans who shroud themselves in rhetoric, but whose precious money will never go to those less fortunate. The American voter is not fooled, and neither is Jesus.
This is what happens when the GOP arrives to 'save the country' with a loaded Clown Car.
Think the tea party will take a hint in regards to their false rhetoric?
Yes Obama has a large lead, and that is mostly because Americans are stupid.
Re-elect Obama and thurn the House in 2012! That's the ticket!
Let's give it up to obama..he's the man on the leading chart.
Poverty increased under Hussein Obama.For humanitarian reason,Hussein obama should withdraw from his reelection effort and let somebody competent to run.Pity the poor
The best hope for the republicans is if they convince Sarah Palin to run. Okay, seriously, Palin really is the GOP's best candidate. No, really, seriously, she is the ONLY one that can beat Obama. Her and Michelle Bachmann are the GOP's only shot at beating Obama. Bachmann will make gas go below $2.00 like she promised and Palin will put the "eerie" in seriously.
Call the election off. Politico / GWU have declared the winner.
thank you... any sign of Obama retaining the Presidency is a good one... i shutter to imagine what a party lead by today's historically far right republicans would pass if they had total control...
And this qualifies as news. The longer the republicans bumble on, the bigger the presidents lead will become. It is beyond my imagination, barring any shocking world events, that President Obama will not earn a landslide victory in 2012
All these polls are garbage until the Republican candidate is choosen. Right now 4 people are deviding up the votes so there is no way to get an accurate count. People who want Romney but not Paul will vote as a majority with the Republican when he's announced, if it's Paul or any of the other two for example.
Yes it happens when you are clearly the best candidate, and the others are psycho nut jobs who has no since of reality
Obama, we love yah man!!!
It's still early but this is definitely good to hear! Go Dems!
Yay Romney and Santorum. Keep it up! You are making democrats very happy.