President 2012 Poll Watch: Obama Beating Romney in Four Key Battleground States of VA, FL, OH, NC

President Obama now holds modest leads over Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum in combined polling of key swing states Florida, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia. The numbers mark a shift from late February when Obama was tied with both candidates in the four states.

Obama is now ahead of the former Massachusetts governor 46% to 42%. Six percent (6%) prefer some other candidate in this matchup, and six percent (6%) are undecided.

The survey of 500 Likely Voters in Florida, Ohio, North Carolina and Virginia was conducted on March 3-8, 2012 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.

Without a doubt, Mitt Romney will need to win all of these states in order to deny President Obama re-election.

This poll is something for the GOP to consider before they nominate him or Santorum.