If it's in the News, it's in our Polls. Public opinion polling since 2003.

POLITICS

33% of GOP Voters Hope Palin Isn’t 2012 Nominee

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin remains a top favorite of Republican voters, but she’s also the front-runner they least want to see get the GOP’s 2012 presidential nomination.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 81% of Likely GOP Primary Voters have a favorable opinion of Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts and an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. Seventy-nine percent (79%) share a favorable opinion of Palin, the party’s 2008 vice presidential nominee, and 77% express positive feelings about another 2008 contender, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.

These findings include 44% with Very Favorable opinions of Palin and Huckabee and 38% who feel that way about Romney. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Still, one-in-three likely primary voters (33%) say Palin is the frontrunner they would least like to see nominated. Twenty-three percent (23%) feel that way about former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Fifteen percent (15%) say Romney is their least favorite of the leading candidates and 13% say the same of Huckabee.

This echoes findings from a survey in July 2009 when Palin was second only to Romney as the presidential candidate Republican voters said they’ll vote for in 2012 state GOP primaries but was also, along with Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, one of two candidates they least hoped wins the nomination. 

(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. 

The survey of 1,000 Likely GOP Primary Voters was conducted on January 18, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. Likely GOP Primary Voters include both Republicans and unaffiliated voters likely to vote in a GOP Primary. 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.

Want to read more?

Become a Rasmussen Reader to read the article

Have an account?

Log In

Become a Reader

Subscribe

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.