Friday, January 22, 2010

PPP: 2012 Presidential Trial Heats (Jan. '10): Obama Trails (Huckabee) for the First Time

Public Policy Polling [pdf] today released their monthly look at the 2012 presidential playing field. Here's a quick look a the toplines (I'll be back later with a full analysis and updated figures.):

Huckabee: 45%
Obama: 44%
Undecided: 11%

Obama: 49%
Palin: 41%
Undecided: 9%

Obama: 44%
Petraeus: 34%
Undecided: 21%

Obama: 44%
Romney: 42%
Undecided: 15%


Margin of Error: +/- 2.8%
Sample: 1151 registered voters (nationwide)
Conducted: January 18-19, 2010

NOTES:
1) The president is under 50% against all four prospective GOP presidential aspirants in this month's poll for the first time since PPP started these examinations last March. How is January going for the president again?

2) The sample voted for McCain in 2008 at the same rate as the actual results (46%), but Obama has dropped off in this sample versus the actual vote total in November 2008 (53% to 47%). Yes, the sample still favors the Obama slightly, but that makes for a much more competitive balance between the president and his Republican counterparts.


9 comments:

Simple thoughts said...

Palin only 8 points down and a few years to go is not to bad.

Robert said...

I suspect that Palin may be the first candidate to get hit hard by the recent Supreme Court ruling. Although Republicans seem ready to reap the rewards, Big Oil will have a chance to get back at her for standing up to them as Governor of AK. Look for them to pour lots of money into the primary candidate(s) most likely to challenge her.

Simple thoughts said...

yeah, but Palin is Pro-Drilling.

Robert said...

And other Republican candidates are not? I think there will be enough pro-oil candidates out there that Big Oil can extract their measure of revenge without hurting their cause. Once Big Oil is scorned, they have no mercy.

Simple thoughts said...

PALIN LEADS IN NEW 2012 poll.

Palin:22.2%
Romney: 19.4%
Newt: 12%
Huckabee 11%

http://newsmax.com/InsideCover/palin-poll-zogby-romney/2010/01/27/id/348220

Robert said...

Christy,

At this time four years ago, if memory serves me correctly, Hillary and McCain had the nominations all wrapped up with much larger margins than Palin has in this poll. That was of course before McCain crashed and burned with no hope of getting the nomination. Palin is likely to rise more with her new television show. If she can bait the Democrats to attack her, she will do even better. I suspect that she will be a clear frontrunner by this time next year, particularly if the Tea Party does well in November.

The keys to the nomination will be (1) capturing the new, big money from corporations, (2) getting access to the best campaign staffs that understand how the Republican primary/ caucus system works, (3) finding a truce between the Tea Party and the moderates and (4) good performance in the numerous candidate debates. I would give Romney & Gingrich the edge in key #1; Gingrich, keys #2 & #3; and Palin & Huckabee, key #4. My prediction at this point is that Gingrich will be the nominee. To put that prediction in context, I picked Obama as the Democratic nominee in early 2007, but I never believed that McCain would get the nomination until it was certain.

Josh Putnam said...

I saw these numbers this morning and they don't strike me as out of whack. However, I am missing a few pieces of information that I usually like to have with these Zogby polls.

First of all, is this a "Zogby Interactive" poll (internet-only)? What was the sample size? Why is there no link or mention of this on the Zogby site itself.

When I get those answers, I'll post these (among several other things that I desperately need to post -- new Census/Electoral College map, PPP trendlines, etc.).

In the meantime, here is the link to the Newsmax item Christy appended to her comment.

Anonymous said...

Thank goodness we have actual campaigns that at least do something to move people beyond their initial gut reactions, eh?

Serge Le Coz L'Eternel said...

Huckabee was quite good but in case of war (and there are still quite a lot of tensions) he was not the one.