Public Policy Polling (PDF) (7/2-5, South Carolina voters, 1/28-30 (PDF) in parens):
Barack Obama: 46 (44)
Newt Gingrich: 44 (43)
Undecided: 11 (12)
Barack Obama: 48 (47)
Sarah Palin: 43 (41)
Undecided: 9 (12)
Barack Obama: 41 (42)
Mitt Romney: 50 (49)
Undecided: 9 (9)
Barack Obama: 44 (45)
Jim DeMint: 47 (47)
Undecided: 9 (8)
Barack Obama: 42
Tim Pawlenty: 42
Undecided: 16
Barack Obama: 43
Herman Cain: 40
Undecided: 17
(MoE: ±3.6%)
While South Carolina is not quite on anyone's swing state list (Obama lost to McCain by 9), the president continues to poll surprisingly well here in spite of his weak 43-53 job approval rating. The problem for the Republicans is that no one really likes any of their candidates, either. As Tom points out:
Much has been written about the weakness of the Republican candidate field and Obama's competitiveness in South Carolina is very emblematic of that: voters don't like him but in many cases they like the GOP alternatives even less. Romney is the most popular of the contenders likely to run in the state but even he has slightly net negative favorability numbers with 40% of voters expressing a positive opinion of him to 42% with a negative one. Cain's favorability spread is -9 (26/35), Pawlenty's is -17 (22/39), Palin's is -19 (37/56), and Gingrich's is -27 (26/53).
Of course, Obama's not likely to win South Carolina — unless somehow Palin or Gingrich gets nominated. (Good luck with that!) A less sucky Republican is going to be pretty decently positioned simply because there are more undecided Republican voters than Democratic voters. But the fact that we're even having this conversation is not a good sign for the GOP.