Voters Divided on Re-Electing Obama in 2012; Palin's Negatives Rise

Voters are almost evenly divided about whether they'd re-elect President Obama over a Republican if the 2012 election were held today, according to a Gallup poll conducted Feb. 1-3.

Forty-four percent of registered voters would back Obama, 42 percent who choose the Republican candidate, 3 percent prefer some other choice and 11 percent are undecided. Independents would back the Republican over Obama by 46 percent to 31 percent, with the rest preferring someone else or having no opinion. The margin of error is 4 points.

As to who that Republican might be, registered GOP voters and GOP-leaning independents put Mitt Romney on top with 14 percent, followed by Sarah Palin at 11 percent, John McCain at 7 percent, newly minted Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown at 4 percent and Mike Huckabee and Newt Gingrich at 3 percent each.

A Washington Post/ABC News poll conducted Feb. 4-8 and released today found that Palin's negatives had inched up since her return to public view on her book tour and appearance at the Tea Party convention. Fifty-five percent see her unfavorably compared to 37 percent who regard her unfavorably. In November, that unfavorable margin was 52 percent to 43 percent.

Seventy-one percent say she is not qualified to be president, compared to 60 percent in November. Fifty-two percent of Republicans say she is not qualified.

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