December 28, 2010 4:57 PM

New 2012 Presidential Campaign Poll: Obama Rising, Palin Falling

By
Joshua Norman
Topics
Campaign 2012

Despite increasing public exposure on reality TV and in the news, Sarah Palin's popularity with Republicans has slipped below that of three other potential 2012 presidential candidates, according to a new poll.

(Credit: Matt Stroshane/Getty Images)
The newest congressmen from the contentious 2010 mid-term elections haven't even been sworn in yet, but the race for the White House in 2012 is already taking center stage for many in Washington.

Recently, as Republicans of many stripes start publicly flirting with a presidential run, President Obama's advisers hinted that they will be campaigning from Chicago, ending a 40-year tradition for incumbents.

Now, a new CNN poll provides some fresh data on the standing for candidates on both sides of the aisle. The poll finds that Mr. Obama's standing with Democrats for their 2012 nomination is improving, while Tea Party champion Sarah Palin has lost ground to fellow potential Republican candidates Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich.

The poll finds that while many Democrats were upset with Mr. Obama over his tax-cut compromise, nearly 78 percent of Democrats in the poll say they want Mr. Obama as their nominee in 2012. Only 19 percent of Democrats would prefer someone else, the lowest rating on that statistic since March.

Meanwhile, Sarah Palin has lost 18 points in Republican support in the last two years, the poll claims, with 49 percent of Republicans now saying they would be likely to support her for the nomination in 2012.

Two-thirds of Republicans questioned say they would likely support Huckabee as their nominee in 2012. Fifty-nine percent of Republicans say they would likely support Romney. That number drops to 54 percent for Gingrich. The poll did not require respondents to pick just one candidate.

The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll was conducted December 17-19, with 1,008 adult Americans questioned by telephone. The survey's overall sampling error is plus or minus three percentage points.  (You can see the full data here.)


  • Joshua Norman

    Joshua Norman is an associate editor at CBSNews.com.

Add a Comment See all 407 Comments
by noloyalisti December 30, 2010 5:39 PM EST
Palin is a typical right wing idiot who say they hate the government but wants them to decide morality in our bedrooms, control women's and gay rights and be able to put people to death for crimes.

In short they are big government hypocrites who sit squarely on their brains.
Reply to this comment
by david4673 December 30, 2010 6:39 PM EST
This is the truth.

The conservatives are far more interested in big government than the liberals...
by JV1970 December 30, 2010 9:20 PM EST
At least we have brains! That's more than you liberals have!
by noloyalisti December 30, 2010 5:10 PM EST
It is hard to believe we have let this rotten, lying corporate slave crew turn us into a hard right fascist country. If we don't wake up soon and unite against the Top 1%, it is going to get real ugly.
Reply to this comment
by noloyalisti December 30, 2010 4:56 PM EST
Obama is a right of center Democrat, certainly not a liberal or progressive. It is because we have an extreme right wing corporatocracy that actually runs America for profit for a greedy few.

Most Americans want a liberal and progressive push since the conservative ideas have so totally failed. But is most right wing fascist countries like America, the corporations and filthy rich call the shots, not the President.

We all need to unite against the Top 1%, then Obama will have to do what most of us want to help the poor, workers and the Middle Class.
Reply to this comment
by san850 December 30, 2010 4:33 PM EST
by JV1970 December 30, 2010 9:23 AM EST
I'm not online all day. You just think I am. Unlike you, I have a life and I sleep and eat. I'm going to repeat that I have as much right to defend Palin in these comment boards as you do to bash her. Besides, if you really want to know who is obsessed and who is not why don't you count the comments you've made on this board alone and then count mine. Go ahead! I dare you! Then you'll see who's REALLY obsessed and who is not!
=========================================
JV, did you happen to read the Dec 29 post on this thread concerning cults and brainwashing? You could be the poster child for this phenomenon.
Reply to this comment
by JV1970 December 30, 2010 5:19 PM EST
No and I don't intend to! I have better things to do with my time than to search through this entire comment board looking for one particular comment! Besides, I know I haven't been brainwashed into anything! I was a pro-life conservative Christian Republican long before I ever even heard of Sarah Palin! My values are not something I've acquired recently. I've been a Christian since the age of eleven and pro-life since about that age too. I've voted Republican since Reagan ran the first time. In short I've been the person that I am actually longer than Sarah Palin has been on this earth.
by san850 December 30, 2010 6:21 PM EST
Geeze, JV, you've missed the point again. The brainwashing referred to has nothing to do with your "values", and everything to do with how you blindly and obsessively defend Palin...and the fact that you have heard the constantly repeated lies from her, and likely Rush Limbaugh and Glen Beck as well, so much that you now believe them...which is their desired result. Even though you can be shown the absolute, without-a- doubt truth...you continue to believe them. In a nutshell...that is brainwashing.
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by noloyalisti December 30, 2010 4:18 PM EST
Hard to believe you could mention a successful, educated former law professor in the same title as the airheaded, bimbo, failure Fox Propaganda Channel buffoon.

Obama actually got a lot of good stuff passed to help the poor, in-insured, people with credit cards and student loans. Even in the current right wing fascist US of A. Palin would already be bombing Iran and trying to kill the country of Turkey.
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by jayrh December 30, 2010 4:29 PM EST
And what exactly does Obama do with this high powered education? You would say that he helps all these people... Most people realize though, that a hard left agenda helps no one but the govenment itself!
by david4673 December 30, 2010 6:34 PM EST
Exactly jayrh...

And in the USA (per our Constitution) -- the government IS THE PEOPLE!

But you wouldn't understand that, I am certain. Anyone who thinks Obama has a "hard left agenda" -- just plain and simple, doesn't have very good comprehension skills.
by JRC_903 December 30, 2010 3:45 PM EST
Imagine for a second that TV (and the internet) has yet to be invented--by gore. Imagine the only means we have to determine a particular candidates fitness for high office comes from basic newspaper. Newspapers that actually respect their readers enough to publish the complete and unfiltered text (grammar and syntax errors and all) for each and every one of their campaign speeches. Now granted, some candidates might be able to give such a speech, that when converted to text would stir the emotions so much as to overwhelm logical thinking. However, as most people know, selecting someone to run the country should be based on a some sort of logical rationale, not on who appeals to your prurient interests.i.e semi-attractive females who can not find South Africa on the map. Clearly, TV is a fine way to find entertainment, but it may not be the best way to find leaders. Pictures (still and moving) tend to short circuit thinking.. unfortunately, that short circuit never disappears for a vast number of TV viewers. So--- in closing, imagine if we did not know what a candidate looked like.. or even what race that person was. But, I guess from their names we would know their gender? Do you think it would make a difference if all we got to see was how well their spoken words converted to printed words. So now create a mental picture of the words spoken by the two people mentioned in this article and judge which one should be president based on that alone...
Reply to this comment
by ge556 December 30, 2010 4:16 PM EST
Please drop the lie about Gore inventing the Internet. He never claimed that.

TruthTeller
by jayrh December 30, 2010 4:24 PM EST
While Obama may sound good with a teleprompter, Anyone following the guys history, actions and words at other times could only come to the conclusion that this guy has something other than America's best interests at heart... Indeed, one could readily come to the conclusion that he means this country harm...
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by USMC-Mom December 30, 2010 3:26 PM EST
I don't want either. Give me a better choice.
Reply to this comment
by CogitoErgoSum1985 December 30, 2010 3:19 PM EST
Ron Paul for 2012!!!! Oops. I better not write that. Apparently, if you're a Ron Paul supporter, you're a threat to national security and need to be surveilled. Look it up, you support a 10 term congressman in his run for the presidency and you get put on a watch list because he wants to end the Fed and get the central banks out of the pockets of the American people. He recognizes that our economy is being destroyed by the Fed, to the profit of central banks. You don't have to agree with me, like the quote says "I may not agree with what you say, but I fight to death to defend your right to say it". Just do a little research on the Fed and central banks running our country, it's very distressing.
Reply to this comment
by erasmus111 December 30, 2010 1:41 PM EST
by JV1970 December 30, 2010 9:23 AM EST
I'm not online all day. You just think I am.....



Hahahahahahaha!! You're a freakin' joke! I think it's YOU who needs to count YOUR comments. I'm not on here all day, but when I do come on, I can see all your posts.

And actually, I'm not so much concerned over the fact that you are defending Palin. You have every right to defend her, if that is your wish. I can't begin to understand why though. Well, that isn't true. I know why you do, it's because she draws who she is....dimwits. : ) Anyways, like I was saying, I don't care so much about the fact that you are defending her, it's WHAT you say, how many comments you post, and HOW you say it....with all those !!!!!. You are a fanatic. You have mental problems. We have all seen people on here, just like you. We can recognize an obsessive fanatic when we see one.
Reply to this comment
by JV1970 December 30, 2010 5:26 PM EST
Tell me, did you count them? If you didn't could it be that you know I'm right?
by erasmus111 December 30, 2010 6:24 PM EST
by JV1970 December 30, 2010 5:26 PM EST
Tell me, did you count them? If you didn't could it be that you know I'm right?


I don't need to count them. I know how often I go into a Palin story. Most times I don't even make a comment. In fact, up until a few days ago, I hadn't made any comments for awhile. But what I do know is how often you comment. I suggest you do the counting. And most of the comments that I have made recently have been to you. Answering you back.
by CogitoErgoSum1985 December 30, 2010 1:34 PM EST
I want to start off my comment by admitting that I voted for Obama. I wanted "change", but not "change" that trampled all over my rights and ran my country and future generations' county into even more debt than Bush. I couldn't stand Bush, now I can't stand either. I stopped buying into the right/left illusion only about a few months ago, when I realized the TSA would be touching my breasts and genetalia on my flight to my fiance's grandfather's house. I started to do my research, like many Americans have, preferring alternative media sources to the major networks, who do not report truth. What I have learned is extremely distressing, I have fact checked many times, and the alternative media is reflecting more truth than the major news networks, like CBS. I say this with a tremendous amount of love and respect for my country and its people. I know that my comments may anger some people, but there is no malice intended, I honestly love my country, that is why this betrayal by my government is so painful to me. I feel violated, watched, robbed of peace of mind by my government. I haven't felt free to express myself too much out of fear. Obama has continued the desecration of our personal freedoms that began long ago, but accelerated by Bush. I ask nothing of you but to watch this movie on the Federal Reserve and to just keep an open mind. I want my fellow countrymen to be prepared when the you-know-what hits the fan, and understand who caused it. If you can't see the problem with this country, the utter disregard for our rights and the U.S. Constitution, I hope this sheds some light. Thank you for reading, if you read this far.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dmPchuXIXQ
Reply to this comment
by JV1970 December 30, 2010 1:42 PM EST
You wanted change but you forgot that there are two kinds of change. There's change for the better and change for the worse. We got change for the worse!
by CogitoErgoSum1985 December 30, 2010 3:12 PM EST
JV1970: Haha. So true. I guess I should have delved a little deeper into what that change was going to be. I was caught up in the "no more Bush" way of thinking, turns out Obama's worse. I don't remember who said this, maybe Gerald Celente, I'm not sure, but I thought it was great. He said that George Bush was an iron fist, but Barack Obama is an iron fist with a velvet glove, which is more dangerous. He's smooth, he's sneaky. He's smiles and is more personable than Bush, which makes him far more dangerous.
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