If the 2012 election were held now, President Obama would be re-elected comfortably, despite his approval sliding below 50 percent and rising doubts among independent voters, according to a Clarus Research Group poll conducted Aug. 14-19.

Clarus found that Obama would win in trial heats against a slate of possible Republican candidates:

-- Against former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, 47 percent to 38 percent;

-- Against former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, 53 percent to 34 percent;

Three Republicans are bunched within five points of each when potential GOP presidential candidates are matched up for 2012 with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney barely on top, according to a Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll conducted July 21-22. The margin of error for the part of the survey dealing only with Republican voters is 6 points.

Romney leads with 22 percent, followed by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee with 21 percent and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin with 17 percent. Former New York City mayor (we're dealing with a lot of "formers" here) Rudi Giuliani polls 13 percent, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich gets 9 percent and by the time we get to an elected official, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, he scrapes together 3 percent. Ten percent say it's too soon to decide.

Other recent polls have varied on the 2012 results. A Washington Post/ABC News survey conducted in mid-July had Huckabee on top while a July 10-12 Gallup poll favored Romney. Several recent polls made clear that voters overall don't want to see Palin as president.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee leads the pack of potential GOP presidential contenders for 2012, according to a Washington Post/ABC News poll of self-identified Republicans and Republican-leaners conducted July 15-18. The margin of error is 3 points.

He is followed by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney at 21 percent, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin at 19 percent and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich at 10 percent. Everyone else polls less than "no opinion" which got 6 percent, including Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, about him there has been speculation as a contender for 2012. He got 1 percent.

On the heels of a Washington Post/ABC News poll showing President Obama's approval ratings slipping on front-burner issues, a Public Policy Polling survey conducted July 15-16 saw his overall job approval rating drop from 50 percent to 43 percent with 7 percent undecided. (The Post/ABC poll still had Obama's overall rating at 59 percent to 37 percent).

Obama's rating in PPP polls had been 55 percent in May and 52 percent in June.

The poll did hypothetical match-ups with Obama pitted against four Republicans for 2012. Obama bested all of them in the PPP survey, but a Rasmussen Reports poll had less favorable news for Obama.

At this early stage. former Massachusetts Gov. and last year's presidential hopeful Mitt Romney leads a list of other Republicans when it comes to who should top the GOP ticket in 2012, with Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin a close second, according to a Gallup poll conducted July 10-12.

The poll of Republicans and Republican-leaning voters has Romney at 26 percent, Palin at 21 percent, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee at 19 percent, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich at 14 percent, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty at 3 percent and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour at 2 percent.

When it comes to favorability ratings, Palin leads the pack among Republicans with a 72 percent to 21 percent favorable-to-unfavorable ratio but among all Americans she is viewed unfavorably by 45 percent and favorably by 43 percent.

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney tops Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Republican party chairman Michael Steele when it comes to favorability ratings with the overall public, but among Republicans Palin far outpaces the pack, according to a Pew Research Center poll conducted June 10-14.

Romney's favorable-to-unfavorable ratio among the general public is 40 percent to 28 percent with 12 percent undecided with 32 percent undecided. Palin's is 45 percent to 42 percent with 12 percent undecided. Gingrich is in negative territory with 38 percent unfavorable to 35 percent favorable and 26 percent undecided, and Steele's numbers don't count for much since 63 percent have no opinion of him.

Democrats have had a lot of fun, although with a serious political goal in mind, in depicting conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh as the head of the Republican party. But while a USA Today/Gallup poll puts Limbaugh at the top of the list along with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich when Republicans are asked who speaks for the GOP, it is not by very impressive numbers.

In fact, all the people named have numbers so low that USA Today/Gallup sees it as hard evidence of the Republicans' leadership vacuum. Gingrich and Limbaugh are each picked by 10 percent by Republicans or Republican leaners, followed by former Vice President Dick Cheney at 9 percent, and last year's GOP presidential nominee John McCain at 6 percent. Another former GOP presidential hopeful, Mitt Romney, who seems to be positioning himself for another try, drew 2 percent.

Among all adults, Limbaugh scores 13 percent, Cheney 10 percent and McCain and Gingrich 6 percent each.

Mike Huckabee is the top choice right now among Republicans to be the party's presidential nominee in 2012 followed closely by Mitt Romney, but among all voters, Huckabee, Romney and Rudy Giuliani are all knotted up at the top of the field, according to a Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll conducted May 12-13.

Huckabee leads Romney 20 percent to 18 percent among GOP voters with Newt Gingrich following at 14 percent, Sarah Palin at 13 percent and all others at 4 percent or less. The margin of error is 6 points.

Among all voters, Giuliani garners 16 percent, Huckabee 15 percent, Romney 14 percent, Palin 9 percent and Gingrich 7 percent. The margin of error for this ranking is 3 points.

In a different take on President Obama's 100-day ratings, Public Policy Polling found Obama's job approval ratings lower than in a Pew Research poll released today, but decided to take things a step further (actually four years further) and match him against potential GOP opponents in 2012. And by that measure, he's doing a lot better than potential Republican contenders.

Obama leads Newt Gingrich 52 percent to 39 percent with 9 percent undecided; Mike Huckabee by 49 percent to 42 percent with 9 percent undecided; Sarah Palin by 53 percent to 41 percent with 6 percent undecided and Mitt Romney by 50 percent to 39 percent with 11 percent undecided.