NONE OF the potential candidates in the unsettled Republican presidential field breaks the 20 per cent mark, according to a poll released on the eve of the first official debate among some contenders.
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney leads the pack with 18 per cent among Republicans and independent voters leaning toward the party, the Quinnipiac University poll shows. Tied for second place are former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee and former Alaska governor Sarah Palin with 15 per cent, followed by real estate developer Donald Trump with 12 per cent.
“It’s difficult to get a handle on the 2012 Republican race,” assistant director of the Hamden polling institute Peter Brown said.
“Many contenders are not well-known and many who are known are not liked, making their candidacies problematic.”
The poll shows limited potential in a general election campaign for Trump and Palin. In interviews with registered voters of various political stripes, 58 per cent said they would never consider voting for either, roughly twice the level expressed for most of the other Republicans.
Republican and former house speaker Newt Gingrich, Georgia, was also rejected by a sizeable block of voters, with 42 per cent of those surveyed saying they would never consider voting for him.
The poll, taken from April 26th to May 1st, interviewed 1,408 registered voters by telephone. For the questions about the Republican primary, the poll interviewed 613 self-identified Republicans or Republican-leaning independents from the larger group.
– (Bloomberg)