It would have been nice to test Hillary Clinton against various Republicans in 2016 in North Carolina.

I guess it's too difficult for some people to do research and look up the track record of a polling firm.

Nixon's The One!

@Timothy Capwell; The debate about using Party ID is over. Several pollsters responded last week as to why they do not wight for Party ID. Party ID from 2008 has nothing to do with what voters say is their Party ID this year. It is a response to a question asked by pollsters, not a statistic like race or gender. The debate is over. Deal with it.

This site has explained before that they don't weigh by party ID. How do you know that the party ID hasn't changed from the last time they polled?

Do you think Todd Akin is sane?

In Missouri, it's Democrats for Nixon!

To my fellow critics: I already knew these things before this poll was done. This poll is not informative at all. I knew Kerry and Obama were losing badly and that Cong -2 was close. This state means NOTHING this fall so why waste money on polling it, instead of some other states that are key to both the Senate and Presidential races?

I'm glad that you took this poll. Without it, I would never know that a Republican candidate for President would have been favored in Nebraska! Here's a novel idea, why not poll states like Iowa which are important and which the last statewide poll there had Romney ahead?

This is good news for the President and his supporters. If he wins North Carolina, he won't need it.

Gallup's swing state polling is at odds with everyone else's polling. Of course, they are not capable of breaking it down on a state by state basis. Based on yours and other polling in specific states, Obama would win today by about the margin he won in 2008.

The President is up by 10, the same margin he won by in 2008. Those looking for erosion of the President's support in a blue state won't find it here.

I agree with Jay. The only relevant polling about Bachmann would be to poll her district. Obviously, she has won three elections in that district so she obviously she has support there. Let me emphasize that I disagree with her on everything and I would not want her representing me.

I find it interesting that you think that as of today, Obama would lose because the number of undecided voters skews Republican. However, I have seen no national surveys, let alone state by state polls that indicate anything other than Obama is solidly ahead in the electoral college (uselectionatlas.org)and it is the republicans who have a much more difficult road in getting to 270 electoral votes. Again, I emphasize, as of today.

How about polling NH for general election results. It only has four electoral votes but Obama has been trailing there in every other poll I've seen. But no one has polled for a while for the general election.

I basically agree with this analysis. I believe, however that Obama is in better shape today than the national head to head polls give him. Of the states he carried in 2008, I see him losing NH and Indiana for sure. He is ahead in VA. and even in NC. Florida and Ohio are two other states where he leads. There is also a chance he could pick up Arizona as well. The Republican brand is being severely damaged during their contest for the nomination.

I think that it's unfortunate that you are only polling the Republican Primary in NH and not the General Election. According to a compilation of other polls, Obama trails in NH but no one has done a poll on NH for the general election for a while. It is the only New England state that has a chance of going Republican in the fall and if Obama can carry it, he would probably win easily. It would be nice to know though where NH stands as far as the general election is concerned.

I find this poll surprising in light of other polls showing Obama ahead nationally and at odds with some of your own state polling such as Virginia where you have him comfortably ahead. Anyway, we'll see what your next poll shows as well as others that may come out. In general, Obama has been on the rise these last few weeks but your poll indicates otherwise.

Sorry dahlings, but apparently you don't meet the "polling standards of the New York Times" because you are Democrats and you do your surveys by phone. Of course, they apparently have not looked at your record for accuracy in the past. It seems to me that accuracy is the first indicator of whether or not to take any polling firm's results seriously. On other issues over the years the Times appears not to have many standards for reporting itself. We all know what the examples are. Well, the next time a NYT poll comes out, I'll just have to dismiss it because the paper does not meet my standards for reporting facts!

Well, I'm the one who wanted you to poll Arizona because another poll released a few weeks ago had Obama ahead of Romney 45-40. I still think, though, that this state can be competitive for Obama next year if his campaign targets it. It would make Republicans play defense in a place they shouldn't have to. But as of today, I will adjust my electoral vote calculator based on your poll. Thanks to PPP for polling this state.

Let's get those Arizona Presidential poll numbers up please!

Well, this poll shows that Pennsylvania will be tough. However, I am encouraged by the fact that Pennsylvania has gone Democratic in the last five Presidential elections. In the final analysis, I think Obama will pull it out here. Curiously, Obama is polling better in Ohio than Pennsylvania and Ohio is slightly more Republican than Pennsylvania. However, if Obama can't carry Pennsylvania, he will probably lose.

Good. Arizona is a state that Obama can pick up in 2012. Given that he will probably lose Indiana, NC, or VA, this would be a great pick up for him.

Georgia is more interesting than Hawaii because Obama lost Georgia by 52-47 in 2008 and I understand his approvals there are better than many other states right now. Arizona is interesting because McCain carried his home state by a smaller margin than Bush carried Arizona in 2004. Also, Clinton carried it in 1996 so these states could be interesting from the point of view of states that Obama might carry in 2012 that he did not carry in 2008.