A new poll out from Purple Strategies shows that, for the first time in their polling, President Barack Obama leads his GOP challengers among independents in a dozen swing states:

President Obama is making strong inroads among independents. As recently as last month, the President was trailing a Republican challenger among independent voters (Santorum 44%, Obama 42%). Today, he leads Romney by 8 points (48% to 40%) and Santorum by 11 (50% to 39%) among independents in swing states.

These improvements appear to be fueled by a slowly improving political climate for the incumbent. President Obama’s approval rating continues to improve, and is now close to even at 46% approve to 50% disapprove. This represents a 5-point improvement over the last six months, compared to a 3-point decline in disapproval.

Additionally, a plurality (39%) now believes that the economy is improving, while 35% say it’s getting worse, and nearly a quarter say it’s staying the same.