President 2012 Poll Watch: Is President Obama Vulnerable?

Yes, according to this latest PPP Poll.

Despite his recent popularity spike there should be no mistaking it- Barack Obama is vulnerable for reelection. The problem for the GOP is that he’s a lot more vulnerable against generic Republicans than the actual Republicans looking at the race. Nevertheless there’s plenty of time for a lesser known GOP contender to rise from the back of the field and prove to be a strong contender, or maybe even for one of the current front runners to have an image makeover that makes them more viable in a general election.

Republican chances of taking down Obama are going to depend a lot on the type of candidate the party puts forward. Tested against a generic Republican we find Obama tied at 47%. When you ask about a couple more specific types of GOP candidates though the numbers move in different directions. Against a generic moderate Republican candidate Obama actually trails by 2 points at 46-44. But when you ask voters whether they’d go for Obama or a Tea Party conservative Republican he leads by 4 points at 49-45.

I think the RIGHT’S Ann Coulter’s observation that should the GOP nominate today’s front-runner Mitt Romney that President Obama would win re-election is causing a stir. The GOP needs new candidates and Ann likes the more moderate Chris Christie, the Governor of New Jersey – who by the way is giving a speech in DC today at the American Enterprise Institute.

There’s a particularly large difference in how independents lean depending on the type of nominee the GOP ends up going with- they prefer a moderate Republican over Obama by 7 points, but they prefer Obama over a Tea Party style GOPer by 5 points. There’s no doubt Republican chances of defeating Obama will be best with a centrist. Whether the party base is really going to be willing to sacrifice some ideological purity to get that candidate is another question.

What is interesting that Tony Perkins (Family Research Council), also a social conservative leader, has taken an appeasing tone towards Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels and his call for a “truce” on social issues.

Maybe the RIGHT is learning and realize that the threat of Obama for another four years is far greater than electing a supposed RINO.