Poll: Romney leading Obama in Mich.

LANSING, Mich. - A poll of likely Michigan voters released Sunday showed Mitt Romney with an apparent lead over Democratic President Barack Obama should the Michigan-born ex-Massachusetts governor get the Republican nomination.

The poll showed 46 percent supporting Romney and 41 percent backing Obama if the 2012 presidential election were held now. The difference is just past the poll's 4 percent margin of sampling error. Thirteen percent are undecided.

Obama carried Michigan in 2008.

Lansing-based EPIC-MRA interviewed 600 people Nov. 13 through Wednesday. The results were reported in the Detroit Free Press, which sponsored the poll along with television stations WXYZ, WOOD and WJRT.

The poll showed Obama with an apparent lead over former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich 45 percent to 40 percent, with 15 percent undecided. And it showed Obama leading Republican businessman Herman Cain 50 percent to 36 percent, with 14 percent undecided.

Sen. Kelly Ayotte backs Mitt Romney in N.H.

Forty-eight percent of those polled said they have a favorable opinion of Obama. Romney's favorability rating was 39 percent, compared with 37 percent for Gingrich and 27 percent for Cain.

Asked to rate Obama's performance as president, 9 percent said excellent, 28 percent good, 25 percent fair and 37 percent poor, with 1 percent undecided.