Share

Email Print Comments Share

A new national survey shows President Obama's job approval ratings and performance on the economy under water, but he still leads two top candidates for the Republican nomination a year from Election Day.

The Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds Mitt Romney and Herman Cain running virtually neck-and-neck among likely GOP primary voters, though the former Massachusetts governor holds a one-point lead with 28 percent of the support. Last month, Cain led by four points. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich places a distant third with 13 percent, up five points since last month. Rep. Ron Paul and Gov. Rick Perry, both of Texas, tie with 10 percent. Perry shed six points since the October poll. None of the remaining candidate garners more than 4 percent.

Still, Obama leads the top GOP candidates in hypothetical head-to-head matchups. The president edges Romney, 49 percent to 43 percent, among registered voters. Last month, Obama led by two points. Obama holds a more commanding lead over Cain, 53 percent to 38 percent, picking up four points in the past month.

This survey comes on the heels of a pair of polls -- one from ABC News/Washington Post and the other from Reuters/Ipsos -- showing Romney edging the president by one point. Those same polls each found Obama leading Cain by five points and Perry by eight and six points, respectively.

But the WSJ/NBC survey also tested Obama against Romney in terms of what people might look for in a president. Obama leads Romney in compassion, experience and knowledge, consistency and being a good commander-in-chief by at least 12 points. But by a 36 percent to 32 percent margin, voters feel Romney has better ideas on how to improve the economy than does the president.

Obama's approval ratings haven't changed since August and remain under water: 44 percent approve of the job he is doing as president while 51 percent disapprove. A majority of voters (57 percent) give him a poor grade on the economy, while 40 percent say he is doing a fine job, up one point since October. The president scores better on foreign policy: 52 percent approve while 41 percent do not. On that note, 71 percent support his decision to remove U.S. troops from Iraq by December.

Still, an overwhelming 73 percent of voters feel the country is on the wrong track, down one point since last month, while 19 percent feel it is moving in the right direction, up two points since October.

The WSJ/NBC poll surveyed 1,000 adults from Nov. 2-5. The sampling error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.