Posted on 11/04/2010 5:48:31 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Washington (CNN) His party got its clock cleaned in Tuesday's midterm elections, but according to a new national poll President Obama remains competitive in hypothetical 2012 presidential election matchups, especially against Sarah Palin.
A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Thursday also indicates that at the unofficial start of the race for the Republican presidential nomination, the field of possible contenders appears wide open with no front-runner.
According to the poll, 21 percent of Republicans say they would most likely support former Arkansas Gov. and 2008 GOP White House candidate Mike Huckabee for their party's 2012 presidential nomination, with 20 percent saying they'd back former Massachusetts Gov. and 2008 Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, 14 percent supporting Palin, the former Alaska governor and 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee, and 12 percent backing former House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia.
The remaining candidates whose names were asked in the question were all in single digits, led by Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, who also ran for the GOP presidential nomination the last time around, followed by Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, and Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana at 3 percent, and former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania at 2 percent.
SNIP
In a possible general election showdown, Obama leads Palin 52-44 percent among all registered voters.
"Looking ahead to 2012, it may be too early to count Barack Obama out, particularly if Sarah Palin is his opponent," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.
SNIP
In a hypothetical 2012 matchup, Huckabee leads Obama 52 44 percent, while Romney has a 50-45 point advantage, which is within the poll's sampling error. Obama hold a 49-47 percent margin over Gingrich.
(Excerpt) Read more at politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com ...
His candidates all lost.
How about Charles Manson?
Please not Huckabee. He’s leftwing on immigration just like Bush and suffers from a bad case of White Guilt.
You guys nail it for me.
While I think she would be much better than BHO, she has been far too demonized, and thereby made far too controversial with crucial indy votes, for me to be comfortable with her winning in 2012.
That said, I really don’t want to see Huck or Mitt.
People will come out to specifically vote against Palin, just like they did with Christine O’Donnell and Carl Paladino.
As for the junior senators what about Rob Portman?
LOL...
I don’t want to see *anyone* from 2008. As for Fred, he can have all the government backed reverse mortgages he wants but he’s not going anywhere near the oval office.
Shed win the red states but thats it.
To wit: McCain gave up on Michigan in 2008 at which point it was Sarah’s reaction— that she wanted to go there anyway — that caused someone in McCain’s HQ to lament, “Oh, no. She’s going rogue.”
What happened Tuesday in Michigan? That’s right, two years later it was Michigan voters who went rogue. The lesson here is simple—by 2012 there will be plenty of red states and that’s all she’ll need to beat Comrade Obama.
And she will.
There are several I like better than Palin. Pence is one of them but I like Paul Ryan even better.
True, but that goes to what you define as a “red state”. If she could win the states Bush won, she would do fine, but during the last election that changed.
As I said, a Republican presidential candidate MUST win two our of three - OH, PA, or FL. The only state out of those I could see her even possibly winning against 0bama would be OH, and that might even be a stretch. Assuming she would lose FL and PA(and she would), there aren’t enough states where she can make up the Electoral Votes.
Like you said, she’s great at fund raising. She is also good at firing up the conservative base. She plays that role beautifully and effectively, and that’s what she should continue to do. We need to nominate a strong (electable)conservative to run against 0bama, and she would be a great help in turning out the vote for them.
yep.
Don't forget he likes letting criminals out of prison early too.
Huckabee would be a terrible nominee. He is not inspiring and is not much of a conservative.
Too bad Rubio probably won't be ready till 2016.
I’m not too familiar with Portman, but what I know I like. I don’t think he’ll be positioned to go for it in 2012 though.
It really doesn’t matter, DumBO will not be his party’s nominee, unless, he switches to the Communist Party. I know, I can’t see a difference either.
A Rasmussen poll today had it Romney 20%, Huckabee 19% and Palin 19%. Many polls have shown those three bunched together around 20% each.
Until something begins to shake things up, those three seem to be fairly even.
Wish he'd run. But with no name recognition, I'm afaid he'd end up like Duncan Hunter.
It’s truly a shame that Sarah has the baggage that she has, due to a relentless media and shameless liberal “celebrities”...
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Sarah Palin’s “baggage” is all media illusion, as insubstantial as Obama’s virtues.
Equivalent baggage will be manufactured for whoever the ultimate challenger will be. The only real thing to throw at Palin is a slightly immature daughter who in the long run will be fine. Much of the hatred the left projects towards Sarah and Bristol is probably due to the fact that neither killed their own children. That seems to be a ritual requirement for the ruling class.
“What happened Tuesday in Michigan? Thats right, two years later it was Michigan voters who went rogue.”
She wasn’t running in Michigan. Palin’s chances across the country has nothing to do with GOP’s chances or conservatism’s chances across the country. She is simply not a presidential candidate.
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