The Public Polling Policy (PPP) poll of voters in Ohio released Wednesday shows President Barack Obama is leading all four remaining Republican candidates there. The PPP poll asked voters to consider hypothetical head to head match ups between the president and each of the remaining Republican candidates, he beat all four candidates by 6 points or more.
Former Pennsylvania Senator fares the best against the president in Ohio, as Mr. Obama garnered 48 percent of the votes compared to 42 percent for Mr. Santorum in their head to head match up.
After winning the Florida Republican primary election, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney trails the president in Ohio. Mr. Obama garners 49 percent, trailed by Mr. Romney at 42 percent of the votes.
Texas congressman Ron Paul trails the president by 10 percentage points, as he won 38 percent of the votes compared to 48 percent for Mr. Obama.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich did the worst of the remaining Republican candidates, as the president won 51 percent of the votes compared to 39 percent for Mr. Gingrich.
PPP also released a poll of Ohio voters on Tuesday that focused strictly on the remaining Republican candidates. In the poll, Mr. Gingrich lead the field with 26 percent of the votes, ollowed by Mr. Romney at 25 percent, Mr. Santorum with 22 percent and 11 percent for Mr. Paul
Additionally, voters in Wednesday’s Ohio poll gave the president a 48 percent job approval rating, which is an increase of 7 percentage points from the PPP poll of Ohio voters conducted in November. In contrast, 48 percent of the voters disapprove of the job the president is doing.
The poll also shows that more Ohio Democrats approve of the president, as he received an 82 percent job approval rating among Democratic voters. That is an increase of 9 percentage points from the PPP poll of Ohio voters conducted in November. It seems that the slight improvement of the unemployment rate, and perhaps the president’s State of the Union address last week has boosted the president’s popularity in Ohio.
“We’ve now found Barack Obama with a solid lead in Ohio on our last two polls,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling, in a press release Wednesday. “Obama’s benefiting from the
weakness of the Republican candidate field, but his own numbers are on the rise as well. We’ve found that if he can win just one state out of Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina he’s likely to be reelected so these numbers bode very well for his prospects.”
The PPP poll was conducted between January 28th and January 29th among 820 registered voters in Ohio with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.
