WSJ/NBC polling has consistently shown President Obama topping Mitt Romney
Hart/McInturff for Wall Street Journal and NBC News. (PDF) 11/2-5. Adults. MoE ±3.1% (Oct. 2011):
Barack Obama: 49 (46)
Mitt Romney: 43 (44)
Romney is clearly in better position than Herman Cain, who trails President Obama by double digits in the poll, but despite the weak economy and being considered the Republicans best candidate, Romney still trails by a healthy margin.
Even though President Obama has a net negative approval rating (44% approve and 51% disapprove for a net rating of -7), most voters would rather see him reelected than a generic Republican—45% would vote for him and 42% would vote for a Republican. Similarly, 46% say they'd rather see a Democratic Congress than a Republican one, compared with 43% who would prefer the GOP to be in charge.
Americans are more likely to blame Republicans in Congress than either Democrats in Congress or President Obama for the main problems facing the country: 56% say Republicans deserve either "a great deal" or "quite a bit" of blame. 47% say the same about Democrats and 36% say the same about President Obama.
In the GOP primary, Mitt Romney edges out Herman Cain by one point with 28% to Cain's 27%, a reversal from October when Cain lead Romney by four points. 13% say the support Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul is tied with Rick Perry at 10%. Every other candidate is in single digits.