Ohio: Romney fares best against Obama

A new Public Policy Polling survey shows Barack Obama leading major '12 challengers in Ohio, despite a negative approval rating.

a. Barack Obama 46% Mitt Romney 42%

b. Barack Obama 49% Newt Gingrich 40%

c. Barack Obama 50% Sarah Palin 40%

Favorable Ratings:

a. Mitt Romney 32%/43% for -11%.

b. Sarah Palin 34%/58% for -24%.

c. Newt Gingrich 22%/59% for -37%.

Barack Obama's approval rating is 46%/49% for -3%.

Notes: Obama won the state by 4% in 2008, so Mitt Romney at least equals John McCain's performance.

The bad news for the POTUS is that independents don't approve of his job performance by 18%, which means he's highly vulnerable to a strong GOP challenger.

Sarah Palin's peformance against Obama has jumped by 6% since PPP's last poll, which pollster Tom Jensen claims is "evidence that staying out of the spotlight may be helping her image."

True, but it's a bad sign when the more people see of you, the less they like you, and vice-versa. That's the way things usually work for ex-presidents (see W and Clinton's post-presidencies), but not a good sign for future candidates.