Gallup: Romney up by four on Obama

by Jonathan Easley - 02/23/12 3:07 PM ET

Mitt Romney leads President Obama by 4 percentage points in Gallup’s latest national head-to-head polling.

If the election were held Thursday, 50 percent said they would support Romney, versus 46 percent who would support Obama, according to Gallup. The president holds the edge on former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), 49 percent to 48 percent.

The poll has a 4 percent margin of error, so the results mean Obama is statistically tied with both candidates.

{mosads}Still, the result is a positive sign for Romney, who hasn’t seen his standing against the president diminish even as Santorum has pulled ahead of Romney nationally. According to Gallup’s national daily tracking poll, Santorum has 35 percent of the support in the GOP primary, compared to 27 percent for Romney.

Romney and Obama have been in a statistical dead heat since Gallup began conducting the poll, but Santorum has posted significant gains against the president after his surprising three-state caucus sweep earlier this month in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri.

Santorum trailed Obama by 8 points in the same poll in late January.

A lot could change in the next two weeks, as the GOP contenders square off in the Feb. 28 Michigan and Arizona primaries, the Washington state caucuses and the 12 states that will vote in the March 6 Super Tuesday primaries.

Romney leads in Arizona and has clawed back into contention in Michigan, but trails Santorum by double digits in Washington state.

A solid portion of the Super Tuesday states are Southern and deeply conservative, which could play to the strengths of Santorum, or even Newt Gingrich, if the former House Speaker can build on his strong performance at Wednesday night’s debate in Arizona.