Barack Obama would beat Rick Perry by 11 percentage points in a head-to-head match up, while Romney would hold the president to a four-point lead, according to a poll released Tuesday by Public Policy Polling.
Obama beats all four of the GOP contenders that PPP included in its survey, but Romney holds him to the smallest lead; the former Massachusetts governor is also the only candidate to keep Obama from getting less than 50-percent support. Obama beats Bachmann by a 53–39 margin, and Rick Perry by only slightly less — 52 percent to 41 percent. Newt Gingrich performs similarly, losing to the president 41–53.
An unknown generic Republican would be considered a RINO by the extreme right and they wouldn't support his nomination, so there's no chance of that happening.