It comes courtesy of Public Polling Policy, last seen making headlines when, just days before Election Day, it announced that conservative Doug Hoffman boasted a “commanding” 17 point lead in the NY-23 special election last month. (Hoffman promptly lost.)

With its latest, PPP, which conducts automated, computerized surveys (i.e. push button phone replies only), the polling firm claims it has a shocker:

Perhaps the greatest measure of Obama's declining support is that just 50% of voters now say they prefer having him as President to George W. Bush, with 44% saying they'd rather have his predecessor.

First of all, if Obama wins his re-election in 2012 and he wins the popular vote 50% vs. 44% against his GOP challenger, that will be considered to be a landslide. A six-point win in a two-man nationwide race is enormous. (It's not that far off from what Obama trounced McCain last year; 53% vs. 46%.) Just sayin'.

Secondly, and more importantly, does it really make sense to take somebody's who's out of public life and no longer has a single political responsibility and who hasn't commented on, let alone taken a stance on, current events in nearly 12 months, and pit him with against the man sitting in the Oval Office and who's forced to make all sorts of unpopular decision on a weekly basis? Of course it doesn't make sense.

Why, other than headline trolling, would PPP poll about somebody who will never run for office again? Why is PPP asking people about a fictitious candidate? And if that's the route it wants to take, why doesn't PPP ask people if they'd prefer if Ronald Reagan were president, or Teddy Roosevelt? Or Tom Hanks or Tom Cruise for that matter. They're in the public arena today about as much as Bush is, which is to say no at all.

Meanwhile, I love the hilarious headline Politico's Ben Smith put on his PPP item; “Bush closes the gap.” If that's meant to be a tongue-in-cheek joke, than I give Smith credit because he sees the absurdity of treating Bush as a candidate; as somebody who's trying to close “the gap.” But if the headline's meant to be serious, than I'm laughing at Smith, because whole Bush vs. Obama premise is almost too dumb for words because one guy no longer has to make a single difficult decision (except maybe select a golf partner), while the other one has to make tough, controversial choices pretty much on a weekly basis and be held up for relentless critiques. But gee, we're supposed to be surprised by the polling results?

UPDATED: And congratulations PPP, you also scored the second dumbest Obama polling question of the week [emphasis added]:

Do you support the impeachment of President Obama for his actions in office so far? If yes, press 1. If no, press 2. If you're not sure, press 3.