Poll Watch: NBC News/Wall Street Journal 2012 Presidential Survey

NBC/WSJ 2012 Presidential Poll

REPUBLICAN NOMINATION

• Newt Gingrich 37% [40%] {13%} (8%) [5%] {8%} (6%) [11%] {13%} (10%)  
• Mitt Romney 28% [23%] {28%} (23%) [23%] {30%} (30%) [21%] {21%} (19%)
• Rick Santorum 18% [3%] {2%} (1%) [3%] {3%} (4%) [3%] {2%} (3%) 
• Ron Paul 12% [9%] {10%} (11%) [9%] {9%} (7%)

Now, if you were voting today in the 2012 Republican primary for president, and the candidates were Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, which one would you favor?

• Newt Gingrich 52% [59%]
  
• Mitt Romney 39% [36%]

I'm going to read you the names of several public figures, and I'd like you to rate your feelings toward each one as very positive, somewhat positive, neutral, somewhat negative, or very negative.

Newt Gingrich

• Very positive 24% [17%] (17%)
• Somewhat positive 32% [35%] (32%)
• Neutral 18% [23%] (23%)
• Somewhat negative 15% [12%] (15%)
• Very negative 9% [9%] (8%)

Mitt Romney

• Very positive 12% [9%] {10%} (16%)
• Somewhat positive 43% [34%] {36%} (35%)
• Neutral 25% [30%] {33%} (27%)
• Somewhat negative 14% [16%] {11%} (11%)
• Very negative 6% [5%] {6%} (5%)

Rick Santorum

• Very positive 15%
• Somewhat positive 37%
• Neutral 25%
• Somewhat negative 8%
• Very negative 8%

Ron Paul

• Very positive 9% [8%] {9%}
• Somewhat positive 21% [20%] {17%}
• Neutral 30% [35%] {35%}
• Somewhat negative 21% [19%] {18%}
  
• Very negative 15% [8%] {11%}
  

If __________________ were selected as the Republican presidential nominee, would you be comfortable with that choice, or would you be uncomfortable with that choice? Would that be very comfortable/uncomfortable or somewhat comfortable/uncomfortable?

Newt Gingrich

• Very Comfortable 39%
• Somewhat Comfortable 32%
• Somewhat Uncomfortable 15%
• Very Uncomfortable 13%

Mitt Romney

• Very Comfortable 34%
• Somewhat Comfortable 41%
• Somewhat Uncomfortable 15%
• Very Uncomfortable 9%

Rick Santorum

• Very Comfortable 29%
• Somewhat Comfortable 38%
• Somewhat Uncomfortable 13%
• Very Uncomfortable 15%

Ron Paul

• Very Comfortable 15%
• Somewhat Comfortable 24%
• Somewhat Uncomfortable 25%
• Very Uncomfortable 22%

GENERAL ELECTION

Among Registered Voters

• Barack Obama 49% [47%] {49%} (46%) [46%] {48%} [49%] {49%} [47%]
• Mitt Romney 43% [45%] {43%} (44%) [45%] {41%} [43%] {40%} [40%]

• Barack Obama 53%
• Rick Santorum 38%

• Barack Obama 55% [51%] (55%)
• Newt Gingrich 37% [40%] (37%)

And, if the next election for president were held today, and Mitt Romney were the Republican candidate, Barack Obama were the Democratic candidate, and Ron Paul were the Independent candidate for whom would you vote?

• Barack Obama 45% {44%}
• Mitt Romney 32% {32%}
• Ron Paul 18% {18%}

I'm going to read you the names of several public figures, and I'd like you to rate your feelings toward each one as very positive, somewhat positive, neutral, somewhat negative, or very negative.

Barack Obama

• Very positive 28% [22%] {26%} (23%) [24%] [27%] [28%] {28%} (29%) [25%]
• Somewhat positive 22% [23%] {19%} (23%) [20%] [22%] [22%] {21%} (23%) [23%]
• Neutral 10% [13%] {15%} (14%) [12%] [14%] [14%] {15%} (15%) [14%]
• Somewhat negative 14% [15%] {13%} (12%) [14%] [13%] [13%] {15%} (14%) [14%]
• Very negative 25% [27%] {27%} (28%) [30%] [24%] [23%] {20%} (18%) [24%]

Rick Santorum

• Very positive 8%
• Somewhat positive 18%
• Neutral 25%
• Somewhat negative 12%
• Very negative 15%

Mitt Romney

• Very positive 6% [4%] {5%} (6%) [5%] [7%] {6%} [10%]
• Somewhat positive 25% [20%] {21%} (21%) [19%] [20%] {19%} [18%]
• Neutral 26% [30%] {32%} (30%) [32%] [30%] {30%} [30%]
• Somewhat negative 21% [21%] {17%} (17%) [18%] [16%] {13%} [10%]
• Very negative 15% [11%] {13%} (12%) [11%] [10%] {12%} [10%]

Ron Paul

• Very positive 8% [5%] {5%} (5%)
• Somewhat positive 18% [14%] {14%} (13%)
• Neutral 28% [32%] {31%} (29%)
• Somewhat negative 19% [14%] {16%} (16%)
• Very negative 13% [10%] {12%} (13%)

Newt Gingrich

• Very positive 9% [6%] [3%] [6%] {9%}
• Somewhat positive 17% [18%] [13%] [18%] {15%}
• Neutral 19% [23%] [23%] [24%] {27%}
• Somewhat negative 18% [17%] [21%] [15%] {16%}
• Very negative 30% [23%] [27%] [22%] {19%}

Survey of 1,000 adults, including subsamples of 820 registered voters, and 441 registered Republican primary voters, was conducted January 22-24, 2012. The margin of error is +/- 3.1 percentage points among adults; +/- 4.67 percentage points among registered GOP primary voters.  Results from the poll conducted December 7-11, 2011 are in square brackets.  Results from the poll conducted November 2-5, 2011 are in curly brackets.  Results from the poll conducted October 6-10, 2011 are in parentheses.  Results from the poll conducted August 27-31, 2011 are in square brackets.  Results from the poll conducted July 14-17, 2011 are in curly brackets.  Results from the poll conducted June 9-13, 2011 are in square brackets. Results from the poll conducted March 31 - April 4, 2011 are in square brackets.  Results from the poll conducted February 24-28, 2011 are in curly brackets.  Results from the poll conducted January 13-17, 2011 are in parentheses. Results from the poll conducted December 9-13, 2010 are in square brackets.  Results from the poll conducted September, 2010 are in curly brackets.