PPP Poll: Obama 53%, Romney 41% (N.H.)

The latest survey from Public Policy Polling gives Pres. Obama a commanding 12-point lead over Mitt Romney in New Hampshire. Obama has surged to a 53-41 lead, a 14-point swing from ten months ago when Romney led 46-44.

The reason for this huge boost in Obama’s fortunes in this swing state is two-fold: an improvement in his own public image and a decline in Romney’s.

Romney is improving with his partisans (up from 63% to 77% favorability with Republicans), but has slipped drastically from a barely positive 43-42 favorability spread overall to 40% seeing him favorably and 54% unfavorably now. That negative movement is entirely with Democrats (from 25-58 to 8-89) and independents (43-40 to 38-53).

On the flip side, 52% approve and 45% disapprove of the president’s job performance, up 10 points on the margin from 46-49 last summer. Obama is also consolidating support with his base (from 83% to 92% approval) but also with independents (from 39% to 51%).

PPP surveyed 1,163 New Hampshire voters with a margin of error of +/-2.9%. The automated telephone interviews were conducted May 10-13, 2012.