Obama Tied With Fictitious Republican in Latest Poll

The latest Gallup poll released Wednesday regarding the 2012 presidential election shows possibly embarrassing numbers for President Obama: he's currently tied with a fictitious, unnamed GOP challenger.

The poll asked potential voters if they would vote for Obama or a generic Republican. Respondents split 45 percent to 45 percent:

The Hill suggests this could be bad news for Obama. "When Gallup polled voters in 2003 to test Bush's reelection prospects, the Texas Republican led a generic Democrat 47-39 percent," it says.

"It's a political maxim that in elections with a sitting president running for re-election, voters are not so much choosing between two candidates as voting for or against the incumbent," Gallup concludes. "That is not to say it won't matter whom the Republicans choose as their standard-bearer, but perhaps it matters slightly less than it would in an open election."