According to a poll conducted by ABC for the Washington Post, incumbent President Barack Obama is outpacing his likely Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, in the race for (re)election to the White House.
If the vote on November 6th were to take place today, Obama would get 51% of the preferences, against 45% for Romney. The gap would be even wider if the opponent chosen for the Republican primaries were to end up being the ultra-conservative Newt Ginrich: 54% to 43%.
The current US president wins head-to-head against Romney on middle class defense (56%-37%), foreign policy (55%-38%) and the fight against terrorism (54%-38%), while his weak point is confirmed by the economy: in managing strategies for the recovery of the economy, Romney is considered more reliable (50%-44%). The Republican multi-millionaire fared even better when the sample of interviewees was asked who they preferred to solve the public debt problem: 52% of the preferences, against 39% for Obama.
It is therefore clear that Obama is liked (the approval rating is back above the 50% threshold, the highest percentage since the killing of Osama Bin Laden last May), even if the economic situation worries the Americans, despite the positive macro data in January, in particular the unemployment rate which fell to 8,3%, the lowest for three years.