A new Elway Poll  shows President Barack Obama with a comfortable lead in Washington State over (supposed) GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney, 49-38—which is better than Obama does against a generic "Republican," where Obama wins 50-42.

Citing projected numbers with Ron Paul in the mix, Elway elaborates on Romney's problems:

Romney’s  difficulty in unifying his party is apparent . Ron Paul would peel off  about 1/5 of Romney’s  support  (plus 1/10 of  Obama’s), handing Obama a 16 point victory. ... these findings do support the  conventional wisdom that Romney has not "closed the deal" with much of the Republican base. 17 percent of Republicans in this survey  (and 27 percent of Independents) said they would vote for Paul.

And while the poll also notes that the improving economy is turning the race into less of a referendum on the economy and more of a "choice" between candidates (favoring Obama), the numbers are way down for the president in 2008, when Obama won with 57 percent.

However, Elway concludes: 'But the results are a  distinct  improvement over last May when just 45 percent  said they would vote to reelect Obama   vs. 44 percent who would  vote to replace him."

No mention of Rick Santorum in the poll, though.