President Obama’s performance in head-to-head matchups with his
Republican competitors, especially Mitt Romney, have dramatically
improved in recent weeks. In a survey
conducted by the Pew Research Center for People & the Press, Obama
went from being tied with Romney in trial heats last fall to holding an
eight-point lead in the fresh batch of data released this week. The
turnaround was even faster in the New York Times/CBS News poll,
which found Obama trailing Romney by two points in January and up by
six this week. The reasons might not be immediately apparent.
Presidential approval has not seen huge gains since the end of last year: Gallup tracking data
show Obama’s job approval rating very close to where it was in
mid-October of 2011—and in mid-October of 2010 for that matter—dipping
just under water-level in the mid-40s.
