George W. Bush Pulls Even With Obama in Poll

Current president used to have a 23-point edge

By John Johnson, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 8, 2010 6:20 PM CDT

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George W. Bush Pulls Even With Obama in Poll — George W. Bush hugs President Barack Obama after Obama was sworn in at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, in this Jan. 20, 2009, file photo. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds, File)

A CNN poll is getting some buzz today because respondents put Barack Obama and George W. Bush in a statistical dead heat on the question of who's the better president. Obama edged Bush 47% to 45%, but it's a far cry from the 23-point margin he held a year ago. It could mean that Democrats will be less likely to pull out the Bush references as the midterms enter crunch time, says the network's polling director.

Other findings:

People say that Obama has done a better job than John McCain would have (50-42). It's about the same spread for Joe Biden over Sarah Palin.
45% approve of the overall job Obama's doing, up 3 points from last month, while 52% disapprove.
52% would vote for a generic Republican on the ballot, 45% for a Democrat. That 7-point spread is down 2 points from last time.

(More President Obama stories.)

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