Poll: Mike Huckabee Takes Lead Among Potential GOP Presidential Picks
Christopher Weber
Correspondent
Posted:
01/21/11
While Mike Huckabee has been cagey about whether he'll make another run for the White House, a new poll out Friday finds the former Arkansas governor leading the pack among potential GOP presidential candidates for 2012.
The Public Policy Polling survey has Huckabee with a solid 24 percent support among respondents, ahead of former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and Mitt Romney, the ex-governor of Massachussetts, who are tied at 14 percent.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich comes in third with 11 percent, followed by Tim Pawlenty, the ex-governor of Minnesota, with 8 percent.
PPP called Huckabee "the big winner" in this poll, citing his increased appeal to both moderates and conservatives within the Republican Party.
Romney isn't so lucky, according to PPP. He's not particulary popular among conservative voters, who give him only a 55 percent favorability rating. That's compared to 74 percent favorability from conservatives for Huckabee and 73 percent for Palin.
The survey points out a potential problem for Palin: her 65 percent favorabilty rating is the highest of any of the Republicans tested -- but still only 14 percent say that she's their first choice for president.
"They just don't think she's presidential material," PPP said. "She's not like a lot of presidential contenders who start out far behind but have a lot of room to grow as they become better known -- she's pretty much maxed out on people's awareness of her."
This week Huckabee told Fox News, where he hosts a talk show, that he won't make up his mind on another presidential campaign until this summer because "people get sick of us" and he doesn't want to seem like a "stale loaf of bread" to voters.
In the 2008 election, Huckabee finished second to Sen. John McCain in the delegate count.
Read the full results of Friday's poll here.
The Public Policy Polling survey has Huckabee with a solid 24 percent support among respondents, ahead of former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and Mitt Romney, the ex-governor of Massachussetts, who are tied at 14 percent.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich comes in third with 11 percent, followed by Tim Pawlenty, the ex-governor of Minnesota, with 8 percent.
PPP called Huckabee "the big winner" in this poll, citing his increased appeal to both moderates and conservatives within the Republican Party.
Romney isn't so lucky, according to PPP. He's not particulary popular among conservative voters, who give him only a 55 percent favorability rating. That's compared to 74 percent favorability from conservatives for Huckabee and 73 percent for Palin.
The survey points out a potential problem for Palin: her 65 percent favorabilty rating is the highest of any of the Republicans tested -- but still only 14 percent say that she's their first choice for president."They just don't think she's presidential material," PPP said. "She's not like a lot of presidential contenders who start out far behind but have a lot of room to grow as they become better known -- she's pretty much maxed out on people's awareness of her."
This week Huckabee told Fox News, where he hosts a talk show, that he won't make up his mind on another presidential campaign until this summer because "people get sick of us" and he doesn't want to seem like a "stale loaf of bread" to voters.
In the 2008 election, Huckabee finished second to Sen. John McCain in the delegate count.
Read the full results of Friday's poll here.