GOP's 2012 Choice: Romney... Or Obama
On the political spectrum, Barack Obama and Sarah Palin are polar opposites. Normally, that is. Today, the two figures have something in common: a new ABC/WashingtonPost poll shows that both figures are on political life support.
Actually, that really isn’t true. According to this poll, Sarah Palin should turn her bus around right this second because she has no future in national politics.
The poll shows that nearly two-thirds of voters said they definitely would "not" vote for Palin for president. These numbers are not just driven by liberal and independent opinion: 42 percent of Republicans say they’ve ruled out supporting her candidacy.
At the other end of the political spectrum, it’s hard to imagine things getting a hell of a lot worse for President Obama. His economic numbers are, well… horrendous. Almost two-thirds of independent voters (i.e. the ones who decide elections) disapprove of the President’s handling of the economy. Of those, more than half said they “strongly” disapprove.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the poll may be that it suggests that Romney may well be the only Republican candidate that can actually beat President Obama.
Among all Americans, Mitt is running dead even (47-47) with President Obama…and among registered voters, the poll actually shows the Mittster running ahead. You might legitimately wonder how this is possible given the fact that Romney basically invented Romneycare. The answer is that four out of 10 Republicans surveyed had no opinion on the Massachusetts healthcare plan at all. That may be the case now, but rest assured President Obama’s team will educate those four voters about where the President got his brilliant idea for Obamacare.
All of that said, it still doesn’t change the fact that Romney polls well against the President while other candidates get absolutely slaughtered. Head to head, Obama beats Palin by 17, Bachmann by 13, TPaw by 11, and Gingrich and Huntsman by 10.
Follow Jeb on twitter: @JGolinkin