Rasmussen: Paul, Romney Both Overtake Obama in Favorability Ratings

President Barack Obama’s favorability rating has fallen to its lowest point in more than a month, allowing two prospective opponents — Mitt Romney and Ron Paul — to overtake him in Rasmussen Reports’ daily tracking poll.

It is the first time since last year that Obama has trailed any of the four GOP candidates in the poll. Both Romney and Paul beat the president by 2 percentage points.

But the polling organization acknowledged that it is too early to tell if the result of Monday’s poll is a blip or if it signals a deeper problem for Obama.

“It remains to be seen, of course, if this is merely statistical noise or a lasting change signaling that the president’s recent bounce in the polls has come to an end,” according to a news release from the company, headed by Scott Rasmussen, author of “The People's Money: How Voters Will Balance the Budget and Eliminate the Federal Debt.”

Just 26 percent of voters strongly approve of Obama’s performance in the White House, while 42 percent strongly disapprove. He has seen a 6 percentage point drop in two weeks, according to Rasmussen's figures.

Romney leads Obama by 45 percent to 43, while Paul leads by 43 percent to 41. The poll shows the president still ahead of the other two candidates in the race: He leads Rick Santorum by 45 percent to 43, and holds a 49-39 margin over Newt Gingrich.

“Paul now joins Rick Perry, Herman Cain, Santorum, and Gingrich as front-runners who have led the president in a single Rasmussen Reports poll,” the company said. “However, it remains to be seen whether Paul can do what those others have not accomplished and lead the president more than once. So far, the only GOP candidate to do that is Romney.”

A particular weakness for the Texas congressman is his standing with female voters, Rasmussen said. Paul beats Obama by 13 percentage points among men, but trails by 8 points with women.

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