Obama up 8 in Connecticut

Barack Obama doesn't appear to be in any danger of actually losing Connecticut this fall, but it might be up there for the state where he falls the furthest from 2008.  PPP's newest poll finds him ahead by just 8 points there, 51-43. He won it by 23 points against John McCain.

There are a couple of groups in particular that Obama's struggling with that are leading to the close race in the state. Only 41% of independents approve of the job he's doing to 53% who disapprove, and as a result he trails Romney47-40 with that group. He's also doing poorly with white voters, trailing Romney 48-46. You see the extent of Obama's issues with white voters when he's not winning them even in New England states.

Obama has a narrowly positive approval rating in Connecticut with 50% of voters approving of him to 46% who disapprove. The race in the state might be even closer if not for the fact that Romney is pretty unpopular there, with only 41% of voters rating him favorably to 53% with a negative opinion.

It speaks to Condoleezza Rice's unique appeal that even in a strongly Democratic state like Connecticut she has a 57/32 favorability rating. She's at 73/21 with Republicans, 55/32 with independents, and 46/40 even with Democrats. If she was on the ticket she'd pull Romney to within 5 points of Obama in the state, 48-43.

None of the other potential Romney running mates who have received the most discussion would make much of an immediate impact on the race. Rob Portman and Bobby Jindal on the ticket both expand Obama's lead to 10 points and Tim Pawlenty pushes it up to 11. Jindal has 53% name recognition, Pawlenty's is 51%, and Portman's is 38%.

Obama will win Connecticut this fall but it is one state that's looking a whole lot more like 2004 than 2008 in this year's race.

Full results here

Comments

[Obama 2012]

Interesting #s considering the very positive Obama numbers out from Quinnpiac/NY Times/CBS News today in Ohio/Florida/Pennsylvania. It's hard to believe that Obama would be ahead of Romney in Pennsylvania by more than in Connecticut!

Really their #s seem a little bit too good to be true... and these Conn. #s seem a little too pessimistic... But who knows... it's just interesting to see how all over the map the polling is lately.

[Soccerdad]

Amazing how ANYONE can approve of the job that Obama has done considering the horrid state of the country.

[jschmidt]

If you check who was polled, they are more Democrats and many of them voted for Obama last time. Poll s skewed.

[chris]

Romney probably overperforms in Connecticut because he has high name recognition in New England.