First Iowa 2012 Poll

11/23/2009, by Proloy Bhatta

HIGHLIGHTS

• Overall favorability: Huckabee 54, Gingrich 42, Romney 40, Palin 37.
• Among Republicans: Huckabee 70, Palin 60, Romney 58.
• Obama's approval rating in Iowa drops to below 50% for the first time.

The Des Moines Register has finally conducted their first Iowa 2012 poll.

But Thomas Beaumont, of the Des Moines Register, emphasized the performance of Sarah Palin a bit too much. He started off his article by saying:

Sarah Palin could expect a lot of support in Iowa’s Republican caucuses if she launched a campaign for the 2012 presidential nomination.

He even titled the article, "Iowa Poll: State Republicans like what they see in Sarah Palin".

That could be true but Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney each out polled her.

Here is the favorability ratings of each of these candidates -- among all adults.

Huckabee is the only potential 2012 candidate to poll over fifty-percent favorable. Among all adults, Palin polled worse than Huckabee, Gingrich, and Romney.

If you break down the numbers to those who would matter in a caucus, Republicans and Moderates, this is how their favorables shape up.

Palin and Romney are tied in how they poll among Republicans but Romney has the edge with his lead among moderates.

The news story should have focused on how Huckabee continues to poll well in Iowa. He won the 2008 Iowa caucus and would do well in 2012 if he did decide to run barring the emergence of any new potential Republican candidates. On Nov 21, we wrote an article entitled "Another Good Day of Polling for Mike Huckabee". Those good days continue.

Jindal is being touted as the future of the Republican party. Currently, over 70% of Iowans have either not heard of him or are unsure as to how they feel about him. Being a governor of a southern state, it has been tough for him to bring up his national profile. The latest national poll taken on Jindal's favorability was taken by Newsweek in March. 41% of adults had not heard of him at that time and another 14% were unsure as to how they felt about him.

In other news, Obama's approval rating in Iowa drops to below 50% for the first time in his presidency.