President 2012 Poll Watch: Mitt Romney 20% Vs. Mike Huckabee 19% Vs. Sarah Palin 19%
Retired Air Force Gen. Lester L. Lyles, left, shares a laugh with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Ohio Republican Senate candidate Rob Portman at InfoTech 2010 on Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2010, in Dayton, Ohio
OK, the election’s over, and the message from most voters was that they didn’t care much for President Obama’s agenda. Now the focus is on the race for the presidency in 2012.
On the Republican side, it’s a dead heat between the ex-governors – Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, Mike Huckabee of Arkansas and Sarah Palin of Alaska, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely GOP Primary voters.
Asked who they would vote for if the Republican presidential primary were held today, 20% say Romney, 19% Huckabee and another 19% Palin.
Romney and Palin are tied among male GOP voters, while Huckabee has a slight edge among female voters.
In October 2009 when Likely Republican primary voters were given a choice of five potential presidential nominees, Huckabee led with 29% support, followed by Romney with 24% of the vote and Palin at 18%.
Rounding out the list of seven candidates chosen by Rasmussen Reports for the question, with their levels of support, are former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (13%), Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty (6%), Texas Congressman Ron Paul (5%) and Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels (3%). Seven percent (7%) prefer some other candidate, and eight percent (8%) are undecided.
Sarah Palin will do campaign speaking events, publish a new book and watch what the new GOP House does to Obama poll numbers and decide either a little before or after Ronald Reagan’s birthday on February 6, 2011.
If Palin runs, she will likely win the GOP Presidential nomination.
One Comment
Jenna
I really like Sarah Palin for President 2012! She would be a great person to draw crowds and do a great campaign! However, I think she will be MORE powerful to endorse someone rather than run herself. I think that is what she would prefer as well. She does well with her base as a “tea party” motivator and like the tea party group should not be defined by a position (as with Palin) or a seperate party (as with the tea party). I think in both cases they should be more of the watch dogs of America. If she were to run as the GOP, I would vote for her. I prefer Mitt Romney for the position though. I think he has more Presidential qualities and Sarah has more of a free spirit, not wanting to be tied to a position if she can help it. But she will rise to the duty if she is called but I prefer Mitt Romney.