Poll: Obama leads GOP field in swing states

President Obama leads the field of Republican presidential candidates in 10 swing states that will be critical in determining the winner of the general election this fall, according to a Fox News poll released late Wednesday.

The president won Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Florida and Virginia in 2008, and will need some combination of victories in those states to secure a second term in the White House.

{mosads}Mitt Romney fares the best against the president in the states, but still trails by eight points, 47 percent to 39.

Rick Santorum, who has caught or surpassed Romney in a number of recent national and regional polls, trails the president by nine points in the swing states, 48 percent to 39.

Ron Paul trails the president 48 percent to 38, and Newt Gingrich trails 52 percent to 32.

That’s a marked turnaround for the president from a similar poll of 12 swing states conducted by USA Today and Gallup in November. In that poll, Romney and former GOP contenders Herman Cain and Rick Perry either led or were within striking distance of Obama in key states.

The Fox News poll shows Obama’s favorability rating in positive territory in the swing states, with 46 percent approving and 43 percent disapproving.

Obama’s approval rating has been ticking upward nationally, according to a number of polls, including a Fox News poll taken last week, which found the president at 48 percent favorable and 45 percent unfavorable nationally.

Still, there are some signs that the president might be vulnerable once Republicans decide on a candidate.

By a wide margin in the swing states, voters said they did not see signs that the nation’s economy has started to recover.

And the president’s approval rating is negative by a margin of 47 percent to 41 in the Rust Belt states of Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, which hold 54 electoral votes between them.

All of the candidates, with the exception of Gingrich, are competitive in the Rust Belt states, where the president trails Romney by one point, is tied with Santorum and leads Paul by one.