Romney Tied With Obama, Rick Perry at President's Heels in New Q-Poll

A national poll released by Quinnipiac University on Wednesday found that former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts was tied with President Barack Obama, and Gov. Rick Perry of Texas was right on the presidents heels. The poll also found that Perry was beating Romney for the Republican nomination.

Romney and Obama both took 45 percent each when matched against each other. Obama did slightly better against Perry, beating the Texas governor 45 percent to 42 percent. Obama did better against two other Republican candidates. He garnered 48 percent against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, who took 39 percent. He did even better when matched against former Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, who remains on the sidelines though she has left the door open to running in 2012, beating her 51 percent to 37 percent.

Perry took 24 percent of the Republicans surveyed with Romney in second with 18 percent. Palin took third with 11 percent followed by Bachmann with 10 percent. U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas took fifth place with 9 percent. Businessman Herman Cain followed with 5 percent and former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia garnered 3 percent. Three candidates -- former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, former Gov. Jon Huntsman of Utah and U.S. Rep. Thad McCotter of Michigan -- tied for eighth with 1 percent.

The poll of 2,730 registered voters was taken from Aug. 16-27 and had a margin of error of +/- 1.9 percent. The sample of 1,150 Republican primary voters hada margin of error of +/- 2.9 percent.