(Image Source: Mitt Romney)

BY CHRISTINA HARTMAN

It’s a shrinking GOP field, but the polls are already looking toward a general election match-up.

A Fox News poll released Monday pits incumbent President Barack Obama against frontrunner Mitt Romney and finds -- the race would be tight. Like -- 46 percent for Obama, 45 percent Romney tight.

But the poll finds -- President Obama’s support is quote “stronger and more positive.” What that means is, there seem to be Romney supporters who say they’re voting “against Obama” rather than “for Romney.”

CNN’s hypothetical general election poll played out similarly but adds Ron Paul to the mix for a statistical tie with the president.

And how does Obama compare with the other candidates? CNN’s poll has the president holding a more than 5 percent lead over Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum. And, WBAL notes, though Republicans themselves are pretty split -- Romney’s looking pretty inevitable.

“Candidates admit, if Romney wins conservative South Carolina, it will be hard to stop him from winning the nomination.”

MSNBC’s Chuck Todd goes as far as to say, Romney is the biggest threat to the Obama reelection team. Then again, this isn’t his first rodeo. And Todd says -- compared to 2008...

“He seems to be more capable of not being taken off message. He seems to have grown a little bit of a thicker skin.”

And is thicker skin all it takes? According to Gallup -- President Obama’s approval rating is averaging about 44 percent -- and USA Today notes, that number is LOWER than presidents who have LOST re-election in the past.

“Other numbers -- Americans' satisfaction with the economy, unemployment, economic growth, and confidence in the economy -- are on the low end for presidents seeking re-election...”

But at the end of the day, a guest on C-SPAN says the obvious, a lot of voters don’t know which way they’ll go yet. As political reporters tend to forget -- the election is still about ten months away.

“They are waiting for the Republicans to nominate a candidate. They are waiting to see will happen. They are unhappy about the economy and they are just waiting to see. They are not sold on Barack Obama' s reelection but they have not decided absolutely...”