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PPP Poll: Obama Leads Potential GOP Challengers in Wisconsin

President Barack Obama
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The latest PPP survey of Wisconsin finds President Obama leading his prospective Republican challengers there in 2012. However, he leads all but one of them by a smaller margin than he won the state by in 2008.

Obama’s closest matchup in the poll comes against former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, whom he leads by just four points, 46% to 42%. Against Mike Huckabee, Obama holds a 47% to 41% advantage, and when matched up against Newt Gingrich, Obama haa a nine-point edge, 50% to 41%.

While Obama does come out on top in those hypothetical contests, his lead is smaller than the 12 points by which he won the state in 2008. Obama bests that margin only against Sarah Palin, whom he topped in the poll 52% to 38%.

The tighter races may be due to Obama’s approval rating in the state, which the same PPP poll pegged at 47%, versus a 46% disapproval rating.

Yet the closeness of some of the contests belies the fact that none of the Republican challengers have a net positive favorability in Wisconsin, according to the poll. Even Romney has a net negative favorability, with just 33% of respondents viewing him positively, versus 45% who viewed him negatively. Over half of all respondents had a negative opinion of Palin and Gingrich, with 54% viewing Palin unfavorably, and 58% saying the same of Gingrich.

The PPP poll of 702 Wisconsin voters was conducted December 10-12. It has a margin of error of 3.7%.

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