Poll: Obama in Dead Heat With GOP Candidates

If the election were held today, it would be too close to call between President Obama and any of the GOP front-runners, according to the latest Gallup poll. Obama would be in a dead heat within the margin of error against Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, or Rick Perry, pollsters found. Romney was tied exactly with Obama at 47%, while Perry was a couple of points ahead and Bachmann and Paul a few points behind. Previous polls have found Obama scoring roughly the same against a generic Republican opponent.

Obama's job approval rating is at roughly 40%, and the poll results show that "more Americans at the moment say they would vote for Obama than approve of the job he is doing—perhaps a reflection of the continuing lack of a strong front-runner on the Republican side," Gallup notes, stressing that much can still change. This far ahead of the election, incumbents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton were in a dead heat with rivals Walter Mondale and Bob Dole. (More Ron Paul 2012 stories.)