Alaska: Mike Huckabee

From Sean Cockerham in Anchorage –

Sarah Palin’s poll numbers have dropped behind both Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney as a potential candidate for the 2012 Republican nomination, a new Rasmussen poll says. The national polling firm said Palin would be trounced if she went head-to-head with either fellow former governor today.

Palin trailed Huckabee by 20 points (55 percent to 35 percent) in the head-to-head among likely Republican primary voters. She was down 15 points against Romney (52 percent to 37 percent).

But obviously any fight for the Republican nomination would not be between just two candidates squaring off against one another.

Rasmussen said that, when given a list of potential 2012 Republican candidates to choose from, 29 percent of the Republicans polled said they would vote Huckabee, 24 percent Romney and 18 percent Palin.

Photo by Diana DeStafeno/ADN reader submission
Sarah Palin talks with Miss Arctic Circle after signing the VPSO bill today in Kotzebue. Check the Daily News Village blog for more photos of Palin's visit.

From Kyle Hopkins in Anchorage --

Forty percent of Republican voters nationwide say Gov. Sarah Palin hurt her chances of winning the party’s nomination for president in 2012 by resigning as governor, according to a new poll from Rasmussen Reports.

The national polling firm conducted a telephone survey of likely GOP voters after Palin’s surprise announcement that she’s leaving the job. Only 24 percent said quitting helps her chances. Another 28 percent said it doesn't matter either way.

From Sean Cockerham in Anchorage --

CQ Politics is reporting on a new Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll that has Mike Huckabee as the current top choice among Republicans to be the party's presidential nominee in 2012.

Huckabee was first choice among 20 percent of the Republicans surveyed in the poll. He was closely followed by Mitt Romney at 18 percent. Next was Newt Gingrich at 14 percent and Palin closely behind him with 13 percent of the support.

All those candidates are actually fairly close together considering the margin of error, which is a high 6 percent since this part of the poll only counted the 274 Republicans who were surveyed.

From David Hulen in Anchorage --

Odds & ends:

> As the Conservative Political Action Conference continues in Washington, CNN released a new poll on Friday showing Gov. Palin as the front-runner among Republicans for the next presidential nomination. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was next, within the margin of error. From the CNN story:

While the CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll doesn't indicate a clear front-runner, it does suggest there's a gender gap among rank-and-file Republicans.

"Among GOP men, the same pattern emerges -- no clear advantage for Palin, Huckabee or Romney. But among Republican women, it's a different story. Palin has a 10-point edge among Republican women, winning 32 percent support among them to 22 percent for Huckabee and 20 percent for Romney," [CNN Polling Director Keating] Holland said.