Obama up 13 in Washington

Barack Obama's ahead by double digits in Washington, another indication that the 2012 election bears more resemblance to 2008 than 2000 or 2004. Obama's at 54% to 41% for Mitt Romney, a 13 point lead that comes closer to his 17 point one in 2008 than the 7 point one in 2004 or 5 point one in 2000 that Democrats had.

Washington voters narrowly approve of the job Obama's doing with 51% giving him good marks to 45% who disapprove. They're not particularly fond of Romney with only 39% of voters rating him favorably to 51% with a negative opinion.

Obama and Romney both have their party base pretty much on lock- 95% of Democrats are committed to Obama and 93% of Republicans say they're going to vote for Romney. Independent voters are putting Obama over the top- he has a 52/36 advantage with them.

Little has changed in Washington since February. Obama's 51/45 approval is exactly the same as it was 4 months ago. Romney's closed the horse race a little bit after trailing 53-38 then, mostly because he's improved from his previous 78% share of the Republican vote.

Democrats are looking solid in the Senate race in Washington as well. Maria Cantwell has a 51-35 lead over likely general election opponent Michael Baumgartner. Cantwell has decent approval numbers with 46% of voters giving her good marks to 39% who disapprove. Baumgartner is a mostly unknown quantity, with 72% of voters having no opinion about him one way or the other.

Cantwell has a double digit lead with independents at 43-30. She's also winning over more Republicans (9%) than Baumgartner is Democrats (4%). The shape of this race hasn't changed at all since PPP last polled it in February and found Cantwell ahead by a 51-36 margin.

Two other notes:

-Christine Gregoire continues to be one of the more unpopular Governors in the country with just 40% of voters approving of her to 52% who disapprove.

-Patty Murray's approval rating is 49% with 41% of voters disapproving of her. Her numbers have improved quite a bit since narrowly winning reelection in 2010.

Full results here

Comments

[Davidsfr]

Obama did not run in 2004 or 2000; you really should reword that first paragraph.

[Gary Denton]

It is amazing that according to this I missed Obama running in 2004 and 2000.

[Obama 2012]

Decent ... 4 points off the 2008 pace ... but still, very good. Encouraging. If Washington State is close that's a very bad sign for Obama - that it's not is a good one.

[Mark B.]

Polling Gary Johnson would have been interesting, I think.