The new national survey from Public Policy Polling (D) finds that President Obama continues to hold a national lead over Sarah Palin and other potential Republican challengers — but interestingly enough, Palin has closed the gap just a little.
The numbers: Obama leads Palin by 51%-43%, is ahead of Mike Huckabee by 49%-44%, leads Mitt Romney by 48%-43%. The margin of error is ±3%. As a frame of reference, in 2008 the Obama-Biden ticket beat the McCain-Palin ticket by 53%-46%.
A month ago, Obama was ahead of Palin by 52%-40%, ahead of Huckabee by 47%-43%, and ahead of Romney by 48%-40%. Paul was not tested.
Obama’s approval rating in the poll is 49%, with 46% disapproving, down from 51%-43% last month.
“Barack Obama is now in a slightly weaker position than he was a year ago at this time,” said PPP president Dean Debnam, in the press release. “His leads against Huckabee and Romney are smaller than his margin of victory against John McCain and his approval’s dropped below 50%. It’s not a dire situation but he needs to reverse the current trend.”
