Palin Trails Other Potential 2012 Presidential Candidates Among Republicans
Reporting on each new poll that throws cold water on Sarah Palin's chances as a presidential candidate may be starting to sound like it's piling on. But not only have recent surveys shown that big percentages of the general public don't look kindly on a Palin candidacy, a new poll by CNN/Opinion Research finds that she makes the worst showing among fellow Republicans when compared to potential GOP contenders considered for the moment to be in the top tier.
Fifty-one percent of Republicans who were surveyed in the poll conducted Dec. 17-19 said they were not very likely or not likely at all to support Palin if she decided to run compared to 49 percent who said they'd back her.
That's a turnaround from December 2008, right in the wake of the just-ended presidential campaign, when 67 percent said they'd be likely to support a Palin run while 33 percent would not.
By contrast, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and Newt Gingrich are all in positive territory.
Fifty-nine percent are very or somewhat likely to back Romney compared to 40 percent who are not; 67 percent are very or somewhat likely to support Huckabee compared to 31 percent who are not; and, 54 percent are very or somewhat likely to get behind Gingrich compared to 44 percent who are not.
None of the four has higher than 27 percent of Republicans who describe themselves as "very" and not just "somewhat" likely to support them.
The unencouraging news for Palin about the sentiments of Republicans follows a Washington Post/ABC News poll conducted Dec. 9-12 that said 59 percent of all Americans ruled out backing Palin for president.
Palin's problems with the general electorate were also evident in surveys conducted over the last two months in 10 states by Public Policy Polling, which found that voters in every one of them held an unfavorable opinion of her. PPP said that an average 56 percent of voters saw her unfavorably in Florida, Ohio, North Carolina and Virginia, which it viewed as key to GOP chances in the 2012 presidential race.
One of Palin's worst showings was in her home state of Alaska where 58 percent regarded her unfavorably.
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