After three days of having his signature healthcare overhaul battered in the Supreme Court, President Barack Obama finally received some good news – he has opened up a significant lead over his likely Republican challengers in a new poll.
Obama now leads GOP front-runner Mitt Romney by 11 percentage points, and is 13 points ahead of Romney’s nearest challenger Rick Santorum, according to the survey conducted by the
Opinion Research Council for CNN.
And the president is also enjoying his highest favorability ratings in almost a year with 51 percent now approving of the job he is doing. That marks the first time he has broken halfway mark since the end of May 2011.
"President Obama currently wins majority support among groups that have been problematic for him in the past, including men, older voters, and suburbanites," CNN poling director Keating Holland said. "He has a solid lead among independents as well."
The survey gave Obama a 54-43 percent lead over Romney, up from 51-46 percent in mid-February. His lead over Santorum is now 55-42 percent, up from 52-45 percent in February.
The poll, taken by telephone among 1,014 respondents nationwide before the Supreme Court case started, also found that nearly twice as many people blamed President George W. Bush and the Republicans for the country’s economic problems as blamed Obama and the Democrats.
A total of 56 percent said the problems were primarily Bush’s fault, 26 percent laid the blame at Obama’s feet, while 10 percent said both presidents were equally at fault.
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