President Obama’s approval rating in Pennsylvania is down to 42 percent in a new poll from Public Policy Polling (D), as the President ties former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney in a head-to-head contest at 45 percent. In a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans, Romney ties Obama by pulling more Republicans to his corner (81 percent) than Obama pulls Democrats (76 percent) and then wins independent voters by two points.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, currently surging in the GOP primary process, is down by six in a matchup with Obama. PPP said that all is not lost for the President in a state he won by ten in 2008, but much improvement is needed to keep it. From PPP’s analysis:
Luckily for the president, he has not yet fallen behind the Republicans hoping to depose him next fall…The president is ceding 11-16% of his own party’s vote, more than the 10% reported by exit polls in 2008. He is losing independents by up to three points and winning them by no more than seven, when he beat McCain by 19. He is cushioned by still taking 8-15% of the GOP (versus 13% in2008)…“Pennsylvania is Barack Obama’s most worrisome state for 2012,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. “He’s slipped there more than in any other large state and the electoral college picture changes fundamentally if it goes into the GOP column.
