Poll: Obama looking good, relatively

The good news for Republicans – Barack Obama is testing weak in the national polls.

The good news for Barack Obama – Republicans are testing even weaker.

“Obama’s numbers continue to tell the same story. Voters aren’t all that enamored with him right now, but when they look at him, and then they look at the Republican alternatives, he comes out looking pretty good,” said said Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling, which in its latest nationwide polling has voters evenly divided on Obama’s job performance (47 percent thinking he’s doing a good job, 47 percent unhappy with his performance, but has the top GOP presidential contenders faring worse.

The best of the crop, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, has a net favorability rating of -7 (35 percent favorable/42 percent unfavorable). Everybody else is in double-digit net unfavorable territory, with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in the worst shape of the field at -31 (26 percent favorable/57 percent unfavorable).

In head-to-head matchups, Obama leads Huckabee and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney by five points each (48-43 over Huckabee, 47-42 over Romney). Obama leads Gingrich by 11 points at 50-39, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty by 14 at 47-33, and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin by 15 at 53-38.