Polls shows Obama, Romney

Polls shows Obama remains more popular than Romney

By Phil Pruitt 

June 4, 2012 

President Barack Obama remains more popular than Mitt Romney, according to a CNN/ORC International survey released Monday.

Romney's favorable rating among Americans has jumped from 34% in February to 48% now. Forty-two percent say they see Romney in a negative light.

Romney still trails the president, however, who currently has a 56% favorable rating, with 42% saying they have an unfavorable opinion of Obama, the CNN/ORC poll shows. The president's favorable and unfavorable ratings are unchanged from CNN polls in March and April.

"The biggest gap between Obama and Romney's favorable ratings is among younger Americans. More than two-thirds of those under 30 have a favorable view of Obama, compared to only four-in-ten who feel that way about Romney. Romney is much stronger among senior citizens, but the gap is not nearly as big," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "Romney may have a small advantage among independent voters, but that is offset by his lower favorable rating among Republicans than Obama has among Democrats."

Three other findings of note:  Vice President Joe Biden has lower ratings than Obama.  Only 41% of Americans have a favorable view him, with 44% having a negative opinion.  And 65% say they have a favorable rating of first lady Michelle Obama, with 27% saying they see her in a negative light. The survey found that two-thirds of the public has a favorable opinion of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The CNN poll was conducted by ORC International between May 29 and May 31, with 1,009 adults nationwide, including 895 registered voters, questioned by telephone. The survey's overall sampling error is plus or minus three percentage points, with a sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points for registered voters.