Embattled US President Barack Obama is running neck-and-neck with his top Republican rivals for the White House in 2012, according to a public opinion poll out Wednesday.
The president ties former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney 45%-45% and barely leads Texas Governor Rick Perry 45%-42% in the new survey, which was conducted by Quinnipiac University.
Obama’s lead over Perry — who has supplanted Romney as the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination — fell inside the poll’s error margin of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points, making it a statistical tie.
“The president is now dead even with one top Republican and just inches ahead of the other,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
In the battle for control of the US Congress, Republicans and Democrats are tied at 38%-38% in the polls so-called “generic ballot”.
National polls are solid barometers of overall US public mood, but experts caution that they must be viewed carefully because US elections are chiefly local contests.
The Quinnipiac survey found that just 42% of respondents say Obama deserves a second term while 51% say he does not, in line with his all-time worst 41%-50% in a late-March poll, and has a split 47%-47% favourability rating among all voters.
The study confirmed the findings of others that Perry has vaulted to the top of the crowded field seeking the Republican White House nod, beating Romney 24%-18% among Republicans and Republican-leaning independent voters. — AFP