GOP Voters View Romney As Strongest Obama Opponent, Paul the Weakest
Likely Republican primary voters nationwide now tend to see former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney as the strongest challenger to President Obama, but regardless of who wins their party's nomination, most of these voters are confident their candidate will win the White House in November.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of likely Republican primary voters shows that 44% believe Romney would be the strongest candidate against Obama in the general election this November. Far behind is former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is seen that way by 17%. Fifteen percent (15%) believe former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum would be the strongest general election opponent, up from two percent (2%) in mid-December. No other candidate reaches double-digits, and 12% of voters are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
The national survey of 1,000 Likely Republican Primary Voters was conducted on January 4, 2012 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
Related Articles
Rasmussen Reports is a media company specializing in the collection, publication and distribution of public opinion information.
We conduct public opinion polls on a variety of topics to inform our audience on events in the news and other topics of interest. To ensure editorial control and independence, we pay for the polls ourselves and generate revenue through the sale of subscriptions, sponsorships, and advertising. Nightly polling on politics, business and lifestyle topics provides the content to update the Rasmussen Reports web site many times each day. If it's in the news, it's in our polls. Additionally, the data drives a daily update newsletter and various media outlets across the country.
Some information, including the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll and commentaries are available for free to the general public. Subscriptions are available for $4.95 a month or 34.95 a year that provide subscribers with exclusive access to more than 20 stories per week on upcoming elections, consumer confidence, and issues that affect us all. For those who are really into the numbers, Platinum Members can review demographic crosstabs and a full history of our data.
To learn more about our methodology, click here.
