President 2012 Virginia Poll Watch: Obama 48% Vs. Romney 42% – Huckabee, Gingrich and Palin All Do Worse

According to the latest PPP poll.

Favorable Vs. Unfavorable:

Romney – 33% Vs. 48%

Huckabee – 40% Vs. 41%

Gingrich – 29% Vs. 56%

Palin – 30% Vs. 63%

Heads Up:

Obama – 48% Vs. Romney – 42%

Obama – 51% Vs. Huckabee – 43%

Obama – 51% Vs. Gingrich – 39%

Obama – 54% Vs. Palin – 35%

President Obama leads Mitt Romney – the best faring GOP candidate by the same margin he beat Joh McCain in 2008.

So, what does this poll mean in Virginia – a key battleground state and one which the Republican need to win the Presidency in 2012?

Part of the reason Obama’s doing well in Virginia is that he has respectable, if not great, approval numbers there. 48% like the job he’s doing to 45% who disapprove. There are two keys to his solid standing. The first is that 87% of Democrats stand with him- that’s an indication he’s generally holding onto white voters within his party, even ones who might lean a little bit more to the conservative side of the ideological spectrum.

The other key to his standing is that he’s coming close to breaking even with independents- 48% disapprove of him to 42% who approve. It may seem counter intuitive that negative numbers with those voters are a good sign for Obama, but after two straight election years where independents in Virginia leaned toward the GOP by a margin of about 30 points a Democratic politician getting just slightly negative reviews from them is progress.

Even more important to Obama’s leads in the state than his own approval numbers though is how dimly voters there view all of the leading Republicans considering the Presidential race.

Exit answer: The GOP better get some better candidates.

The entire poll is here (Pdf).