Joining other polls in showing an Obama head to head lead over Republican challengers, Fox News notes improved Obama numbers (MoE plus/minus 3 for registered voters, higher margins for sub-groups):
Looking ahead to November, Obama edges Republican Mitt Romney by 5 percentage points (47-42 percent) in a hypothetical matchup today. In January, the president had a narrow one-point edge (46-45 percent). Both leads are within the polls’ margins of sampling error.
The president’s advantage widens against the other GOP contenders. Obama leads Ron Paul by 10 percentage points (48-38 percent), Rick Santorum by 12 points (50-38 percent) and Newt Gingrich by 13 points (51-38 percent).
An important part of the story is the 85 percent support from Democrats, and that:
48 percent of voters approve of the job Obama is doing as president. That’s up from 45 percent in January, and the highest positive rating Obama has received since June 2011.
(snip)
The new Obama health care law requires that employer health plans provide birth control coverage as part of preventive services for women. Catholic and other religious-affiliated hospitals and universities typically have not provided any birth control coverage for their employees, and oppose the new requirement because it violates their religious rights. Overall, do you approve or disapprove of requiring employer health plans to cover birth control for women?
Approve 61%
Disapprove 34
(Don’t know) 5
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/02/10/fox-news-poll-methodology-santorum-surge-obama/ (Fox News Poll: Obama holds edge over Republicans in matchups)
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/02/10/fox-news-poll-obama-holds-edge-over-republicans-in-matchups/
