Gallup: Obama Tied at 45 Percent Against Generic Republican Candidate

Take this with a grain of salt, of course. Polling a generic Republican is a very different beast than weighing the merits of a living, breathing, actual candidate. Nonetheless, Axelrod, Plouffe and the rest of Obama’s reelect team have to be a bit nervous about this Gallup poll:

U.S. registered voters are evenly split about whether they would back President Barack Obama for re-election in 2012 (45%) or “the Republican Party’s candidate” (45%). This is similar to the results for the same question when it was asked a year ago.

Gallup includes some historical context as to how this question relates to Obama’s 2012 chances: