Current Polls

Mitt Romney has won 21 of the 33 republican primary races so far across the country.  It looks like he's going to win the nomination by a somewhat narrow margin over Rick Santorum.  Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich have been taking turns picking up distant 3rd and 4th places, and are effectively out of the race.

Gallup Chart of President Obama's Approval Rating throughout 2012

Here are some current polls to give you a picture of how Americans stand on things:

President Obama's Job Approval
Approve - 47.5%
Disapprove - 46.5%

Congressional Job Approval
Approve - 11.3%
Disapprove - 82.5%

Direction of the Country
Right Direction - 31.3%
Wrong Direction - 61.3%

Obama v. Romney
Obama - 48.1%
Romney - 43.9%

Obama v. Santorum
Obama - 50.3%
Santorum - 41.9%

Obama v. Generic Republican Candidate
Obama - 45.0%
Republican - 43.8%

These poll numbers are very disappointing if you're hoping to be rid of the Obama administration in 2013, but there's a long way to go, and the numbers will change once the republicans have chosen their candidate.  It's generally the case that an incumbent president has the advantage over various opposition party candidates before that opposition party has chosen one - but once the opposition party chooses its candidate, support consolidates and polls become much more accurate and depend largely on how popular the sitting president is.  By mid-June, the republican party's candidate should be known, and republicans will then be able to consolidate their support behind a single candidate, and start focusing on the President's weaknesses rather than fighting amongst themselves.  The negative ads being run by the republican candidates right now are wreaking havoc with their mass appeal, but once the race turns to defeating Obama, I suspect the republican's numbers will improve.  After all, Obama's record is atrocious, so he can't merely run on "hope and change" this time.

But I must say, I'm very disappointed with the candidates the republican party has put forth.  They are all weak options for a voter seeking a true conservative to vote for.  A majority of the nation still identifies itself as right of center, and I think a true conservative would have mass appeal and do very well against Obama.  However, like 2008, when the republicans trotted out John McCain, the party just seems incapable of picking a strong, conservative candidate for president.

President Obama has a good chance of being re-elected, if for no other reason than the fact that there are numerous voting blocs that are perennially in the democrats' bag, like unions, teachers and academia, and minorities.  Those groups alone make up somewhere north of 35-40%, so a modest portion of the remaining voters may be enough to win another 4-year term.

I've always thought the democrats were much better at public relations than the republicans, and that continues to be the case as an incompetent, destructive democratic president maintains a lead on a couple of ho-hum, neo-conservative candidates.  Once again, I'll probably be cornered into voting for the republican in November simply because he will again be the proverbial lesser of two evils.

Sources:  Gallup.com, RealClearPolitics.com