The usual suspects.
Poll: Obama leads 2012 rivalsBy ANDY BARR | 6/11/10
President Barack Obama holds an edge over each of his potential Republican challengers in 2012, according to a new Public Policy Polling survey.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee runs closer to Obama than any other Republican in the field, taking 44 percent of the vote to the president's 46 percent. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney trails by a slightly wider margin, taking 42 percent to Obama's 45 percent.
Huckabee and Romney are at this point the strongest challengers to Obama, according to the national survey of 650 adults.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Obama's 2008 rival, is the third top opponent for the president, drawing 42 percent support but trailing Obama by 7 percentage points.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is the next strongest Republican against Obama, down 8 percentage points to the president. Following were former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who was behind 50 percent to 41 percent, and Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), 46 percent to 36 percent.
The news isn’t all good for the president, because the five potential Republican presidential candidates — McCain is not expected to run again — are viewed more favorably than Obama by independents. Unaffiliated voters view Obama negatively by a 17-percentage-point spread.
Independents also had net negative views of Palin and Gingrich, both by 16 percentage points, and Huckabee, by 5 percentage points. Paul and Romney both had positive net favorability ratings from independent voters.
“Obama is certainly weaker than in November 2008 since Huckabee and Romney do better against him than John McCain did, but continuing to lead all his potential opponents in this political climate isn't bad,” wrote Tom Jensen, the director of PPP, on his blog.
Among all voters, Palin had the highest unfavorable rating of the groups, with 53 percent expressing a negative view compared with 34 percent who said they view her favorably.
Obama had an approval rating of 48 percent in the survey with 47 percent saying they disapproved of his performance.
The poll was conducted June 4-7 with a margin of error of 3.8 percentage points.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0610/38415.html
