Posted on 10/19/2009 7:48:35 AM PDT by DanZanRyu
Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palins forthcoming autobiography has been at the top of the Amazon book charts for weeks, and it hasnt even been released yet. At least in the eyes of the political Left, she is now perhaps Americas most visible national Republican.
But new Rasmussen Reports national telephone surveying finds Palin losing handily in face-to-face march-ups with her two likeliest challengers for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.
Among likely Republican primary voters, Palin now trails former Arkansas governor-turned-Fox-TV-host Mike Huckabee by 20 points 55% to 35%.
When her opponent is ex-Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, Palin loses by 15 52% to 37%.
(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.
When given a list of five candidates and asked who they would vote for in 2012, 29% of Republican voters nationwide say Huckabee, while 24% prefer Romney and 18% Palin.
In July, it was close to a three-way tie: 25% said Romney, 24% Palin and 22% Huckabee.
Its noteworthy that Huckabees gains since July are matched almost precisely by Palins decline. That suggests a large pool of voters are committed to choosing between two candidates routinely dismissed as unacceptable in the eyes of Republicans in Washington, DC. At the moment, 47% prefer either Huckabee or Palin while 42% prefer a candidate more acceptable to Republican political leaders. That divide is also reflected, with similar results, in a Huckabee-Romney head to head match-up.
Twenty-one percent (21%) of primary voters also say Palin is the GOP candidate they would least like to see win the partys presidential nomination. Just nine percent (9%) say the same of Romney, and eight percent (8%) feel that way about Huckabee.
Support for Huckabee and Romney against Palin is nearly the same among both men and women. Suggesting that Romneys Mormon faith may still be a problem among some Christian conservatives, Palin leads him by 14 points 52% to 38% - among GOP primary voters who describe themselves as Evangelical Christians. But Romney beats Palin by 26 points among other Protestants 58% to 32% - and holds similar winning margins among Catholic voters and those of other faiths.
On the other hand, Huckabee, an ordained Southern Baptist minister, beats Palin by 17 points among Evangelical Christians and 29 points among other Protestants. A similar spread is evident among Republican voters of other faiths, but Huckabee has just an eight-point edge over Palin among Catholic voters.
Earlier polling showed that Palin trails Hillary Clinton in a general election match-up.
In early July, 40% of Republican voters nationwide said Palins decision to resign as governor of Alaska hurt her chances of winning the partys presidential nomination in 2012.
None of the above. I think one of the governors would be a better choice: Daniels, Jindhal or Barbour.
I like what you say..
Since you hold Palin responsible for her daughter's pregnancy, I'm sure you also hold Huckabee responsible for his son torturing and hanging a dog at summer camp. Is that what you consider stellar Christianity?
And you are a troll pumping up an unelectable joke of a candidate.
“What crap. What is suggest is Evangelical Christians vote for someone who shares their values.”
Are you suggesting that we do not?
If she’s not running as a repub, this poll is useless.
“Palin is a failed conservative & failed Christian.”
How so?
We need something much better.
Huckabee? The man that has never meet an illegal alien he doesn’t want to give our tax dollars to?
Is Bobby NBC?
Pushing Huckster again - the pro-life socialist/liberal.
Hmmmm ~ another NFL fan heard of ~ keeping up on those dog killers eh?
I have no idea what your post is trying to say.
It has to be Palin or someone new we haven't seen yet to beat the zero.
To historically follow the GOP’s choice for candidate... the next GOP candidate will be either... Lilly Grahamnesty or Olympia Snow!
If the Republicans insist on running these old, white men again, they are doomed. We need new fresh blood. The electorate said that we didn’t want them last time. All they are is a little bit older, but not much wiser.
Palin is a fresh new face.
Huckabee is a dirty, filthy politician whose underhanded tactics in the 2008 West Virginia caucus erased all hope of Romney winning and gave us the hapless John McCain. Not that I was a fan of Romney (I'm still not), but he would have given us a fighting chance. The great Christian Huckabee played dirty and screwed us all.
So the GOP establishment wants to give us a choice between Juan McCain Jr. (Huckabee) and George Bush without the enthusiasm for illegal aliens (Romney)? I’ll stick with Sarah Palin, thank you.
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