November 2, 2011 - American Voters Like Obama Better This Week, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Cain And Gingrich Up As Romney Stalls And Perry Fades
President Barack Obama's job approval rating is up, from a negative 41 - 55 percent October 6, to a split today with 47 percent approving and 49 percent disapproving in a Quinnipiac University poll released today. The president has leads of 5 to 16 percentage points over likely Republican challengers.
Voters also are divided 47 - 49 percent on whether Obama deserves reelection, compared to last month, when voters said 54 - 42 percent he did not deserve reelection.
Former Godfather's Pizza CEO Herman Cain leads the Republican presidential primary field with 30 percent, followed by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney with 23 percent, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich with 10 percent and Texas Gov. Rick Perry with 8 percent, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds. No other candidate tops 7 percent.
Cain leads a head-to-head GOP race with Romney 47 - 39 percent, coming close to the critical 50 percent mark, even though more Republicans think Romney has the knowledge and experience to be president.
"President Barack Obama seems to be improving in voters' eyes almost across-the-board," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "He scores big gains among the groups with whom he has had the most problems - whites and men. Women also shift from a five-point negative to a four-point positive.
"Whether this is a blip, perhaps because of the death of Moammar Gadhafi and the slight improvement in some of the economic numbers, or the beginning of a sustained upward move in his popularity isn't clear and won't be for some time. Nevertheless, the movement allows the White House a sigh of relief, for the president's approval had been stuck in the low 40s for some time and even a temporary upward move is good news for the folks at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave."
Over the past month the president's approval among men improved from 60 - 36 percent disapproval to 53 - 43 percent disapproval today; white voters shift from 62 - 34 percent disapproval to 56 - 40 percent disapproval. Women shift from a 51 - 46 percent disapproval last month to a 50 - 46 percent approval today.
Much the same is true when voters are asked about whether the president deserves a second term. Results among men shift from a 58 - 37 percent 'no' to 52 - 43 percent 'no' and among whites he goes from 62 - 34 percent 'no' to 57 - 39 percent 'no.'
Obama also is looking better in matchups against potential Republican nominees:
• 47 - 42 percent over Romney, compared to a 46 - 42 percent Romney lead October 5;
• 52 - 36 percent over Perry, up from a 45 - 44 percent tie last month;
• 50 - 40 percent over Cain, who was not included in a matchup last month;
• 52 - 37 percent over Gingrich, who was not matched last month.
http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x1295.xml?ReleaseID=1669
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