Second Poll Finds Republicans Favor Sarah Palin Against Obama in 2012 Race
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
November 28, 2008
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — The second poll in a week finds Republicans voters placing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin at the top of their list for potential Republican presidential candidates in 2012. GOP voters say the pro-life running for to John McCain is their top choice for a nominee against Barack Obama’s potential re-election bid.
That’s the finding of a new Zogby poll conducted from November 7-18.
Voters were offered the choices of Palin, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Texas Rep. Ron Paul and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
All but Palin and Jindal were candidates for the 2008 GOP nomination and voters could select someone else if they didn’t like the given choices.
Among Republicans, 24.4 percent said Palin was their top choice to face Obama in 2012. Romney came in second with the support of 18 percent, Jindal placed third with 15.6 percent, Huckabee came fourth with 9.7 percent, and 8.2 percent of Republicans said someone else was their top choice.
Giuliani and Paul both received less than 5 percent of the support from Republicans and another 16 percent were undecided.
Zogby also surveyed all voters, regardless of party, about the potential Republican candidates.
Romney, Palin and Jindal came in the first three places with 13.7, 13.4 and 12.5 percent respectively. All other candidates received 8 percent or less, 20.3 percent wanted someone else, and 19.7 percent were unsure.
Zogby noted that Palin’s strength is with all conservatives, conservative religious voters and gun owners. Among Republicans, she gets the support of 30% of born-again Christians, 32% of weekly churchgoers, 34% of National Rifle Association members, 28% of current gun owners and 29% of self-identified conservatives.
He also indicated that it appears Palin is stealing Huckabee’s thunder among Republican religious conservatives and working class voters. Huckabee’s highest GOP totals still come from born-again Christians (15%) and weekly churchgoers (18%), but those numbers are about half of those drawn by Palin.
Zogby also indicated he thinks Republicans are satisfied with the group of pro-life advocates as a potential candidate for 2012, although some big names like South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty were left off.
"While someone other than those we listed could still emerge as Republican contender, GOP voters seem satisfied with this group," he said. "Only 8.2% would choose someone else."
The Zogby survey follows a Gallup poll LifeNews.com reported on showing Palin leading and Romney and Huckabee second and third.
Gallup interviewed Republicans and Republican-leaning independents and asked whether certain potential candidates should run or not.
Some 67 percent of Republicans said Palin should run, helping her top the list. Another 62 percent wanted to see Romney run, and 61 percent favored Huckabee.
The rest of the potential names came in at under 50 percent, in some cases because they are not as well known. Jindal received the backing of 34 percent of Republicans but his numbers were low because 30 percent of GOP voters had no opinion and are apparently not familiar with him.
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