A national Gallup survey finds that President Obama leads a generic Republican by just 2 points in a hypothetical re-election matchup.

Independents are leaning toward the unnamed Republican by a double-digit margin -- 45 percent vs. 31 percent for Obama.

The same survey finds that Republicans have no clear frontrunner to take on Obama, however, with Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin leading the pack as the only candidates with double-digit support. In an open-ended question over who Republicans would like to see as their nominee, new Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown (R) actually gets more support than some likely candidates, including Mike Huckabee and Tim Pawlenty.

Romney 14
Palin 11
McCain 7
Brown 4
Huckabee 3
Gingrich 3
Paul 2
Pawlenty 1
McDonnell 1
Thompson 1
Jindal 1
Other 10
Und 42

The hypothetical 2012 matchup is based on a sample of 942 RVs interviewed from Feb. 1-3, with a margin of error of +/- 4%. The Republican nominee question is based on a subsample of 490 Republican and Republican-leaning independents, with a margin of error of +/- 5%.

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