[TheRealVille]

Republican infighting during the primary campaign and President Obama's election-year reset appear to have boosted the incumbent's standing with voters, particularly independents, a new Washington Post/ABC News poll finds.



The president's job approval rating has hit 50% for the first time since just after the killing of Osama bin Laden, representing an 8-point rebound from his October low point.



Voters are still evenly divided on the question of whether Obama deserves a second term, as he argued Sunday night that he did. Fifty percent say he does while 48% say he does not. At a similar point in Bill Clinton's first term, 47% said he did while 49% said he did not.



But Obama has opened up a 51% to 45% lead over front-running Republican Mitt Romneyamong registered voters in a hypothetical general election matchup; Romney had a 2-point lead just three weeks ago.

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-...Stories%29