A recent poll in Colorado run by the Public Policy Polling (PPP) has results that put President Barack Obama in a very good spot as we head into the 2012 election cycle.

The poll results put President Obama ahead with a 51 percent approval rating, and a 45 percent disapproval rating in the states that don’t approve of his performance. This is a much better showing than in a previous poll by PPP which had the President with an approval of only 41 percent and a disapproval rating of 53

Survey questions also contained poll takers choices in a hypothetical 2012 general election with the candidates being Obama and several eligible Republican candidates.

The PPP poll resulted in Obama having a 47-41 lead over former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, he showed a 51-42 lead over former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, and had a 55-36 lead over former Alaska Governor and Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

Obama did win Colorado 53.5 percent to 44.9 percent during the 2008 elections. President of PPP, Dean Debnam reported that the poll shows that President Obama is as strong in the same states he won in the 2008 elections as he is now.

The PPP poll surveyed 517 Colorado voters during the timeframe from February 4th to 6th, and it has a margin of error of 4.3 percent.