President Obama has opened his largest Gallup lead over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney since the polling service began tracking the race.
Though still a slim margin, the poll released today has Obama at 49 percent of registered voters polled and Romney at 45 percent.
Obama opened up a larger lead over former Sen. Rick Santorm (R-Pa.), with whom he was tied in mid-February Gallup polling. Now, Obama leads Santorum 51 percent to 43 percent.
In both matchups, independents are preferring Obama, by 8 points over Romney and by 16 points over Santorum.
The number of undecided Democrats and Republicans polled was very slim, from 1-3 percent in each matchup.
When whittled down to 12 swing states, the poll found Obama with 51 percent support and Romney with 42 percent.
Gallup also found voter enthusiasm waning. In January, 52 percent of voters nationwide said they were “extremely” or “very enthusiastic” about casting a vote for president in November. Now, only 42 percent say they are.
Romney enthusiasm fell from 56 percent to 43 percent in that time period. Obama’s went from 50 percent to 46 percent.
The Real Clear Politics average of all recent polls has Obama up 4.4 points over Romney and 8 points over Santorum.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member