Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- With President Barack Obama aggressively promoting abortion, pro-life voters long for 2012 and the opportunity to replace him with a pro-life president. A new Pew poll finds Sarah Paling leading four Republicans who could be seen as presidential candidate, though not all potential candidates are included.

The Pew poll finds Americans have positive rating of Paling, the Alaska governor, for the first time since the presidential elections.

Palin continues to be a controversial figure among the general public, with about as many saying they have a favorable impression (45 percent) as saying they have an unfavorable one (44 percent) of her.

However, that rating is an improvement on her 42-48 percent negative rating she held in the Pew poll in late October, just before the presidential election.

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has also seen his favorable ratings improve and now enjoys a positive balance of opinion among the general public: 40% rate him favorably, 28% unfavorably.

This marks a reversal of opinion from February 2008, during the latter stages of the GOP primary campaign, when just 30% viewed him favorably and 44% expressed an unfavorable opinion.

Among Republicans, however, the balance of opinion about Palin is more positive than it is regarding two other GOP figures, Newt Gingrich and Michael Steele.

Gingrich has a 35-38 percent negative rating and Steele, the current GOP chairman, has a 23-14 percent positive rating with 63 percent not knowing enough to rate him.

Looking just at Republicans, Palin leads the other three, although other potential presidential candidates like governors Mike Huckabee, Haley Barbour, Bobby Jindal and Tim Pawlenty, among other potential presidential candidates, were not included.

More than seven-in-ten Republicans (73%) express a favorable opinion of Palin while just 17% have an unfavorable opinion. Romney has a 57-18 rating among Republican voters, Gingrich a 55-22 rating and Steele a 28-14 rating.

Palin continues to be overwhelmingly popular with key parts of the GOP base – white evangelical Republicans (84% favorable) and conservative Republicans (80% favorable).

With all voters, Palin received her highest overall favorable rating of 50% in mid-September 2008, shortly after McCain named her as his vice-presidential running mate.

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