President Obama is neck and neck with three potential GOP challengers in a new poll of North Carolina from Public Policy Polling (D). Obama is tied with former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney at 46 percent in a trial heat, and former House Speaker is down four points, 49 – 45. Obama bests Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) by five percent as well.
The president has improved by ten points with independents both in the approval column and in the head-to-head against Romney, now trailing by only five points. Gingrich leads by four, and Paul by eight with unaffiliated voters. Gingrich’s problem is that he allows Obama to consolidate more of his base than Romney does, and a lot of Republicans are on the fence when faced with a choice of Obama and Paul.