Generic Republican 47%, Obama 43%

A generic Republican now leads President Obama by four points in a hypothetical 2012 match-up for the week ending Sunday, October 16.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely U.S. Voters finds the generic Republican earning 47% support, while the president picks up 43% of the vote.  Four percent (4%) prefer some other candidate, and seven percent (7%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.) 

Support for the generic Republican is unchanged from last week, while Obama’s support rose two points. Since weekly tracking began in early May, the Republican has earned 43% to 49% support, while the president has picked up 40% to 45% of the vote. The generic candidate has now led Obama for over three months, but the race is closer once the GOP candidate is named.

Rasmussen Reports will provide new data on this generic matchup each week until the field of prospective Republican nominees narrows to a few serious contenders.

The president remains in a virtual tie with former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.  Georgia businessman Herman Cain, who has surged in the GOP race in recent weeks, is now the only Republican who has any kind of lead over the president, 43% to 41%. Rasmussen Reports has launched a new subscription service providing have access to more than 20 exclusive stories each week. It’s just $3.95 a month or $34.95 a year. Check it out with a three-day free trial subscription.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.

The survey of 3,500 Likely Voters was conducted October 10-16, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 2 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.