Republicans have positive views of the most prominent of the potential GOP candidates in the latest Economist/YouGov Poll. Majorities hold favorable opinions about former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, former Massachusetts Government Mitt Romney, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, and real estate magnate Donald Trump.
Nearly three times as many Republicans have favorable opinions of Congresswoman Michele Bachmann than have unfavorable views. But nearly four in ten say they don’t know enough about her to judge.
The rest of the country doesn’t feel the way Republicans do about these candidates. All except Huckabee are seen more unfavorably than favorably by the public at large. Overall opinion of Huckabee is mixed.
Republicans are overwhelmingly negative about President Barack Obama; but Americans overall are closely divided, giving him better marks on this question than they give nearly all the Republicans the poll asked about.
And registered voters give President Obama a slight edge in a head to head contest against the man who finished second in the race for the 2008 Republican nomination. As of now — more than a year and a half before the general election — 45% of registered voters say they would vote for President Obama; 41% would vote for Mitt Romney.
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