The latest Rasmussen polling of likely voters shows Rick Santorum faring 8 points better than Mitt Romney in respective head-to-head matchup versus President Obama. Rasmussen shows that Santorum leads Obama by 1 percentage point (45 to 44 percent), while Romney trails Obama by 7 percentage points (49 to 42 percent). Newt Gingrich trails Obama by 8 points (49 to 41 percent), and Ron Paul trails him by 12 points (50 to 38 percent). 

The Santorum-Obama polling was taken from February 2-3, while the Romney-Obama polling was taken from February 3-5, but Obama’s average net approval rating was almost identical during those two overlapping periods.  Likely voters disapproved of Obama by 5 points (46.5 to 51.5 percent) from February 2-3, and by 4 points (47 to 51 percent) from February 3-5.