Poll Watch: Rasmussen 2012 Presidential Survey

Rasmussen 2012 Presidential Survey

Which Republican presidential candidate would be the strongest opponent against Barack Obama in the general election?

• Newt Gingrich 30%
• Mitt Romney 29%
• Ron Paul 8%
• Jon Huntsman 7%
• Michele Bachmann 5%
• Rick Perry 3%
• Rick Santorum 1%
• Not sure 16%

Among Republicans

• Newt Gingrich 49%
• Mitt Romney 24%

Among Independents

• Mitt Romney 32%
• Newt Gingrich 24%

Which Republican presidential candidate would be the weakest opponent against Barack Obama in the general election?

• Michele Bachmann 30%
• Rick Perry 13%
• Ron Paul 12%
• Jon Huntsman 11%
• Newt Gingrich 10%
• Rick Santorum 7%
• Mitt Romney 4%
• Not sure 12%

Survey of 1,000 likely voters was conducted December 10-11, 2011. The margin of error is +/- 3 percentage points.

Inside the numbers:

GOP voters tend to see Bachmann and Paul as the weakest opponents for Obama, with only Gingrich, Romney and, perhaps surprisingly, Santorum in single digits on this question.

Unaffiliated voters agree that Bachmann is the weakest challenger, but just five percent (5%) of these voters think that of Romney compared to 10% who feel that way about Gingrich.

Military veterans see Gingrich as a stronger opponent for Obama than Romney. Those who have not served give the edge to Romney. Among those with an immediate family member now in the military, Gingrich is seen as the strongest candidate. Those without a service member in the family agree that these are the two strongest GOP candidates but are evenly divided over which would make a stronger rival for the president next fall.

Newsmax also notes:

When it came to individual policies, Gingrich was considered the strongest Republican candidate when it comes to national security, scoring four times the vote of second-best Romney. He also beat Romney on both the economy and health care, each time with a margin of 3-2. However, Obama beats all the Republican candidates on all three of those issues.