Poll: Obama Building Lead Over 2012 GOP Field
MIAMI (CBSMiami.com) – President Barack Obama is pulling away to a commanding lead over the 2012 GOP Presidential field as 2011 comes to a close, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll.
Overall, President Obama's job approval has improved from a 41-55 disapproval rating to a 47-47 even split.
Voters also split evenly about whether Obama deserved re-election, which was up from a 54-42 split last month saying he didn't deserve re-election.
On the GOP side, former Godfather's Pizza CEO Herman Cain is pulling ahead. Cain captured 30 percent of the vote, followed by Mitt Romney at 23 percent, Newt Gingrich at 10 percent, and Rick Perry at 8 percent. No other GOP candidate polled over 7 percent.
In a head-to-head matchup, President Obama would beat Romney by a 47-42 percent margin; would beat Perry by a 52-36 percent margin; would beat Cain by a 50-40 percent margin; and would beat Gingrich by a 52-37 percent margin.
Obama's job numbers have been given a boost from male voters. In an October poll, men disapproved of Obama's performance by a 60-36 percent margin. In November, those numbers shifted by seven percent.
By a 49-29 percent margin, voters said that Cain does not have the "knowledge and experience necessary to be a good president."
Perhaps the most troubling part of the poll for the GOP came from a question about the vote for the U.S. House of Representatives. According to the poll, by a 42-34 percent margin, voters would select a Democrat in races for Congress.
Those numbers have been reflective of a growing trend in Quinnipiac polls that is putting the House GOP majority into question heading into 2012.
