President 2012 Pennsylvania Poll Watch: Huckabee 45% Vs. Obama 44% – Romney 43% Vs. Obama 42%
According to the latest PPP Poll.
Job Approval Vs. Disapproval:
- President Barack Obama – 42% Vs. 52%
Pennsylvania is looking like a potential problem for the incumbent President. Obama won Pennsylvania in 2008 by double digits.
Obama has two major problems in the state: independents and white Democrats. A majority of independents disapprove of him- 54% give him bad marks to 39% who think he’s doing a good job. More concerning is that his approval rating with Democrats is only 68%, well below the 81% we find for him nationally. He’s doing fine with black Democrats- an 86% approval rating- but with white Democrats he’s at only a 64/27 spread.
Those numbers suggest that a lot of the voters who fueled Hillary Clinton’s primary victory in the state and then sucked it up and voted for Obama in the general election the last time around haven’t been real thrilled with what they’ve seen from him so far and could split their tickets next year- if the Republicans put up someone who’s seen as a reasonable alternative.
Favorable Vs. Unfavorable:
- Mike Huckabee – 37% Vs. 43%
- Mitt Romney – 31% Vs. 41%
- Rick Santorum – 37% Vs. 47%
- Newt Gingrich 25% Vs. 54%
- Sarah Palin – 33% Vs. 61%
Head to Head:
- Romney – 43% Vs. Obama – 42%
- Huckabee – 45% Vs. Obama – 44%
- Obama – 45% Vs. Santorum – 43%
- Obama – 47% Vs. Gingrich – 39%
- Obama – 50% Vs. Palin – 39%
I have earlier selected Pennsylvania as a key battleground state that the GOP must win in order to beat President Obama. This poll is a good start, and indicates that at this early stage Pennsylvania is in play, provided the GOP nominates the right candidate.