WASHINGTON & SANTA FE, NM (By Jeff Zeleny and Dalia Sussman, NYT) January 19, 2012  — President Obama opens his re-election bid facing significant obstacles among independent voters, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll, with the critical piece of the electorate that cemented his victory four years ago open to denying him a second term.

As Mr. Obama moves toward a full-throated campaign, delivering a State of the Union address on Tuesday and inching closer to directly confronting his Republican challenger, a majority of independent voters have soured on his presidency, disapprove of how he has dealt with the economy and do not have a clear idea of what he hopes to accomplish if re-elected.

The swing voters who will play a pivotal role in determining his political fate are up for grabs, the poll found, with just 31 percent expressing a favorable opinion of Mr. Obama. Two-thirds of independent voters say he has not made real progress fixing the economy.

The president, mindful of the headwinds facing him, begins his first major television advertising campaign on Thursday in a handful of battleground states. His targets include independent voters, who the poll found also hold deep skepticism of Republicans.

While Republican primary voters say Mitt Romney stands the best chance of defeating Mr. Obama, nearly half of independents say they have yet to form an opinion of him, creating a considerable opening for Democrats to try to quickly define him if he becomes the nominee.

As Mr. Romney and his rivals fight to win the South Carolina primary on Saturday, the poll suggests

Republicans have grown less satisfied with their choices. Nearly 7 in 10 Republican voters across the country said they now want more options, a probable reflection of conservative unease about Mr. Romney and the remaining candidates.

But with 10 months remaining until Election Day and the lines of argument coming into view, voters are evenly divided in a matchup between Mr. Obama and Mr. Romney. The president does better against the other Republican candidates.

A glimmer of hope may be on the horizon for Mr. Obama, though, as the economy appears to be generating more jobs. The poll found 28 percent of the public says the economy is getting better, which is the biggest sense of optimism found in a Times/CBS News poll since last February.

But Mr. Obama, whose job approval rating remains essentially frozen in the 40s, has considerable work to do rebuilding the coalition of voters who sent him to the White House. Independent voters have concerns about Mr. Obama on a variety of measures, including 6 in 10 who say the president does not share their priorities for the country.

“I trusted Obama would bring fresh ideas to the country and improve the economy, even though he was not experienced. It didn’t happen,” said Jay Hernandez, 54, a credit manager from Miami who said he is not aligned with either party, in a follow-up interview. “If there were another Democratic candidate I might reconsider, but I won’t vote for Barack Obama.”

With the president preparing to address a joint session of Congress next week, which will also be an opportunity to outline his accomplishments to the nation, the poll found 38 percent of all voters view him favorably, 45 percent unfavorably, and 17 percent have no opinion. The speech will be a chance to draw further distinctions with Congress, whose approval rating remains near record lows of 13 percent.

When asked whom they trust, the poll found Mr. Obama has an advantage over Congressional Republicans in making the right decisions about creating jobs, health care, Medicare and Social Security. Yet the gap narrows on the economy — the chief concern among voters — with 44 percent of Americans saying they trust Mr. Obama and 40 percent saying they trust Republicans in Congress.

The public is evenly split on who they trust to deal with the budget deficit, which the poll found to be the public’s second most important issue.

But Americans are also far more apt to blame Republicans than the president for failing to find common ground and passing legislation. An overwhelming number of Americans support compromise over sticking to positions. A majority of people say Mr. Obama is trying to work with Republicans in order to get things done, while two-thirds say Republicans in Congress are not trying to work with Mr. Obama.

“I’m not saying Obama hasn’t done anything good, and maybe it’s not fair to blame him or the administration, but I just think there were more expectations for an improvement on economic issues,” said Elaine Vignali, 60, a homemaker and independent voter from Uniontown, Pa. She added she was deeply frustrated, declaring: “To be honest, if I had to vote today I wouldn’t vote.”

While the re-election effort for Mr. Obama has been under way for nearly a year in his Chicago headquarters and in battleground states, the campaign is on the cusp of breaking into clearer view. The president intends to increase his travel to swing states, aides said, and reach out more to independent voters through advertising and personal visits.

In 2008, Mr. Obama won 52 percent of independent voters, compared with 44 percent for Senator John McCain. The top objective of the president’s campaign, aides said, is to raise his standing among those voters.

For months, the Republican presidential race has drawn the lion’s share of the spotlight, with frequent televised debates, along with the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. Yet the poll found enthusiasm among Republicans has waned. In September, 45 percent of Republican primary voters said they were more enthusiastic this year than in previous elections, but now only 38 percent say so.

When asked which candidate most represented the values to try to live by, 25 percent replied Rick Santorum and 20 percent chose Mr. Romney. When asked which candidate could be trusted most to deal with the economy and unemployment, Mr. Romney and Newt Gingrich were divided nearly equally.

A national snapshot of Republican primary voters found Mr. Romney had the support of 28 percent, with Mr. Gingrich at 21, Mr. Santorum at 16, Representative Ron Paul of Texas at 15 and Gov. Rick Perry of Texas at 7 percent.

Mr. Romney and Mr. Gingrich are locked in an increasingly testy battle in South Carolina, where another nationally televised debate will take place on Thursday evening. Some Republican voters who responded to the poll said they were eager to win back the White House, but frustrated by the tenor of the discussion.

“The problem right now is everybody wants to beat Obama and they aren’t talking about what they would do in the White House,” said Jane Deike, 69, a retiree from Detroit Lakes, Minn., in a follow-up interview. “It seems like all they want to do is slam one another instead of getting to the point where they talk about what has to be done.”