Washington (CNN) – As the start of the next presidential campaign nears, a new national poll suggests that President Barack Obama's tax-cut compromise with congressional Republicans did not hurt his standing among Democrats, while former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin may be dropping in the eyes of Republicans.
According to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Tuesday, 78 percent of Democrats questioned in the poll say they want to see Obama at the top of their party's ticket in 2012, with only 19 percent saying they would prefer someone else as the Democratic presidential nominee. The 19 percent figure is the lowest figure since March, when the question was first asked.
Full results (pdf)
Many liberal Democrats opposed the tax rate compromise because it included provisions that helped the wealthy. Although previously released numbers indicate the president's approval rating among self-described liberals dropped from 79 percent in November to 72 percent in December, the survey suggests that when it comes to the next presidential election, the tax deal may not be hurting him with the progressive wing of the party.
"Among liberal Democrats, 85 percent say they want to see the party re-nominate Obama in 2012," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "Among moderate Democrats, his support is almost that high."
In the battle for the GOP presidential nomination, the survey suggests Palin may have some work to do if she throws her hat in the ring. Only 49 percent of Republicans say that they are likely to support Sen. John McCain's running mate in 2008 for the Republican nomination in 2012.
"That's a huge 18-point drop since December of 2008, when two-thirds of GOPers said they were likely to support Palin. It also puts her well behind potential rivals Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney, and a bit behind Newt Gingrich as well," adds Holland.
Two-thirds of Republicans questioned say they would likely support Huckabee as their nominee in 2012. The former Arkansas governor and 2008 GOP presidential candidate is considering another bid for the White House. So is another candidate from the last election, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Fifty-nine percent of Republicans say they would likely support Romney. That number drops to 54 percent for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia, who is also contemplating a run for the White House.
The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll was conducted December 17-19, with 1,008 adult Americans questioned by telephone. The survey's overall sampling error is plus or minus three percentage points.
– CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report
Follow Paul Steinhauser on Twitter: @PsteinhauserCNN
Check out CNN's new Polling Center, which provides the most comprehensive polling data covering national questions and the top 2010 election races of any news organization in the political landscape.
From CNN Politics
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Depending on the wording and characterization of the poll, both of these could also win a who do I detest the most poll.
It's good to know the crazies haven't totally taken over the country. I was worried for a while.
It took two years for them to catch up with ther rest of the country. Maybe the media will follow and ignore her too.
I greatly appreciate all that Palin has done to promote conservative values, but she is not the future face of the Republican party. To insure the defeat of Obama in 2012, she needs to come to terms with that. She is not electable. She needs to continue in her important role as head cheerleader, but not seek to become team captain.
I keep seeing the headline "Bad news for Palin" and I know it sounds hateful, but I keep hoping each time it means her and her followers finally drank the koolaid...
Comments coming from the right confirm that Palin is losing her standing within the party. Astonishing enough, the same GOPers who spent two years taunting Democrats with each and every Palin article are now the same GOPers who are demanding Democrats STOP posting comments over her articles, somehow suggesting it is the Liberals who are keeping Palin in the news while GOPers themselves would prefer she just fade away. What a hilarious turn around.
No Suprise! America is catching on that she is not leadership material.
haha...I love how the article is fabricated by the "CNN Political Unit." Maybe should change their name to "The Obama liberal propaganda re-election," machine....it's a shame that so many, especially in the media, hate this country so much that they thrive on destroying someone who supports the American way such as Palin. While I'm not a huge fan of hers, she's far more trustworthy and American than Obama could ever be...he's done nothing but create massive debt, increase racial tension and heighten the sense of entitlement for minorities...kill our defensive posture and relationships with our allies, and create an undercurrent of civil unrest in this nation. It's a shame that our country has sunk to new lows with the likes of him and Soros....
The liberals are rationlizing that Obama is the best chance the dems have to keep the presidency, woa if they should give the repugs the presidency, you can kick America as we know it good by, the only alliance the the repugs have is to their rich corporate biddies, that keep shipping America's jobs overseas, depleting the middle class and with it the high end items, such as houses, and vehicles. How can we expect the poor to buy these items, and support our economy.
Did Palin ever really have any chance at winning a national election anyway? No.
A poll that takes Palin seriously as a candidate is just as much rubbish as a poll as asking Minnie Mouse's chances of running against Obama.
The more exposure Sarah Palin gets, the lower her numbers go. It might take a while, but eventually everyone will deny they ever supported her.
How's that Learning Channel thingy workin' for ya' Sarah? (-; (-;
That's because one has genuine intelligence and the other one genuinely doesn't.
One's in the spotlight because he deserves the respect he has earned by doing good things for this country, especially cleaning up the mess that absolutely horrible president before him created.
The other is clearly in it for the fame and money off people too stupid to realize that.
I do hope you run Palin. Anything that makes Obama's 2nd term possible is what I'm for. Go Stupid Go..I did it again...I mean Go Sarah Go.
Palin has a legitimate role in the political arena... she simply is not presidential material... Americans understand this. Palin will remain deeply popular to a segment of the population. Presidential aspirants will denigrate or ignore her at their peril.
Lets hope the Republicans are putting more intelligent thought into Sarah Palin......she might sell books and she might be good in reality shows but that is the limit to her capabilities.......she is not a President in the making not now or ever........
Can we please stop having a story/day about Palin? Let us talk more about the serious candidates who have the experience and intellectual depth to hold the highest office in the land. Mrs. Palin has shown herself to not be that person. What is with the media obsession? The general public obviously does not share it.
Glad to see Republicans are not completely brain dead!!
!As a liberal, I will probably vote Democratic in the next presidential election. However, I believe the country benefits greatly from having two intelligent, competent candidates vying for the position.
Palin is not intelligent enough to run for political office.
Bachmann 2012!
49% of GOP support Palin running for President? No wonder your country is in such a terrible state.
Oh! poor Sarah, with all her efforts in her "Reality Show", still people are not impressed. Wait when it comes to her rumbling in interviews, she will learn a second lesson in which she pretended to ignore the first lesson in 2008!
Whatever... Huckabee, Palin, Romney, and Gingrich all have one thing in common: Obama will mop the floor with them. Palin is an idiot who doesn't have the brains or the maturity needed to tie her own shoes. Romney flip-flops like a fish out of water and is a spoiled brat whose life was delivered to him on a silver spoon. Huckabee is a self-righteous religious zealot who will do his best to install a Bible-thumping theocracy. And Gingrich, well, he has proven over and over again that he is the very definition of hypocrisy and ineptitude.
The only people you have a chance with are Mitch Daniels or Tim Pawlenty.
This underscores a large issue that Republicans will have in 2012. They want Obama to lose in 2012 but who are they going to run against him? The most popular person in their party, Sarah Palin, cannot be elected national because she is far too partisan. There's no way she could possible bring the country together as I'm sure that she turns independents off as well as moderate democrats. The only person I can see them running would be Huckabee but I'm not sure that he has what it take to be Obama. If the economy is recovering going into 2012 then it in certain that no one will be able to beat Obama and it would also almost certainly mean that Hillary Clinton will be elected in 2016.
If the 112th Congress does not get a handle on the spending and deficit this year and next, 2012 will not matter as it will be total collapse of the economic system with ensuing civil unrest and anarchy. Right in line with ACORN philosophy and purpose.
There is no way she is even considering running people......get a clue.......she's raking in the money while she can.
WIll CNN ever stop posting links on its main page with the title "Bad News for Palin?" Seriously, every few days, sure enough, there's a story labeled "Bad News for Palin." Get over it, CNN.
wow....Palin is behind Newt?!! She is about as liked and wanted as a blazing case of the ebola virus.
Survey shows that Republicans are no longer conservatives if they like Huckabee and Romney again.
Go Ron Paul 2012!
Dropping how?
If it were not for CNN still reporting on this Can't-Do Lipstick Pig, she would not be in the news anymore.
Her 15 mins of fame should be past by now.
Really, she has not done anything good in her life, why pay her any attention at all? Oh right......RATINGS on a Train Wreck!
Lol Romney, Huckabee, Newt, and Failin' Palin. It's like a who's who of intellectual failures that define what is wrong with American politics. Just a bunch of right wing religious nutcases who are either too dumb or too stubborn to do anything remotely close to what is needed to run this country.
Good luck Republicans, you sure know how to pick 'em.
Sarah Palin was a has-been when she was NOMINATED. She has lousy credentials, empty rhetoric, and is representative of a reaction of the ignroants who were surprised to find that the majority of the country is MODERATE, rather than conservative. The same, idiotic souls who don't understand American history, are too bigoted to have even a basic understanding of foreign policy, and are too stupidly arrogant to understand the difference between their loudmouthed belligerence and reason. I LOVE that Palin is taking a swan dive – she's tyhe champion of idots, and their inane ramblings are disappearing with her...maybe they will learn to be humiliated by their stupidity, once again, without a champion for ignorance pretending she EVER had a shot at leading this great nation.
Well, maybe intelligence will prevail after all. Palin should be home raising her family rather than being a continued embarrassment to America.
The more $arah Palin opens her mouth, the more we learn or go "what did she say?"
I'm sure Palin doesn't give a crap. She's in it for the money and she's making a ton of it off the stupid right wing idiots who's only wish in life would be to kiss her behind.
Great job CNN! Keep bashing Palin over and over and over and over again.
I didn't agree with Obama's continuation of the bush tax cuts, but politically it was the smartest thing to do. Once he is re-elected, we will see the real Obama and he can accomplish much of what he promised. Looking forward to that.
President Obama is the right person for the WH again in 2012 as he is doing well,and it will take him all 8 years to even begin to straighten out the mess the Republicans left to be cleaned up!~That said ,I do not know why in the world anyone who wants to see this country back on the right track,for the middle class,would even remotely entertain the idea of a president like ANY of this current Repub bunch,?~And ,as far as SP~I just can find nothing about her that would ever make her material for any high government position,much less president!Good Lord~she would not have the slightest idea how to handle any of the things required of the President every day.Also,most of the Repub candidates seem very racially inept,and we sure to not need somebody trying to divide this country even more~in fact we need to all get back to working to making it BETTER for ALL of us.
Now maybe mama grizzly will go home to roost where she belongs and raise her children. Everyone sees that she is a gold digger. She has made her millions, now go spend it.
YEPPER.....As it gets closer to 2012 the Rats on palin's sinking ship will be jumping over board. Finally this will be the beginnig of the end of her and her followers.
I don't consider myself liberal but I opposed extending tax cuts for the wealthiest. However, hell would freeze over before I'd vote for that dingbat, Palin.
Well all you can say about palin is that every time her mouth opens and more lies and stupidity comes out the more the numbers dop.
Palin has no idea what direction she is going. Probably, witch ever way the wind is blowing. Hear out dated ideas, lies and twisted meaningless comments are design to get attention. She is a media whore. She will do anything to be in the news.
To talk about these two in the same breath is an insult to Americans. Sarah Palin is an idiot, Barack Obama is becoming a statesman. Sarah Palin should take her act back to Alaska and STAY THERE! PLEASE...
Dear Santa
I never ask for anything, including this year... but I have a request for 2012. Please make Sarah Palin the opponent. We need the laughs. Thanx
25% of republicans would support Hitler if he was on the ticket.
You could feel it couldn't you? Surely I wasn't the only one. Somewhere around the time of Bristol being on DWTS, Palin's book tour, and her reality show starting, you could just feel the country getting sick of her. It's called "over exposure" Sarah, and it's killing your political career, thankfully. Now, even the dumbest of Americans are getting fed up with you, finally.
Yeah but we all know that all scientific polls are fake, that 81% of the country is Conservative, and that Sarah Palin obviously has the support of every living soul on the planet.
GO TEA PARTY GO!
Gee, which out of touch, multi-millionaire do we want to nominate? Romney, Huckabee, Palin, Obama, left and right – they are all the same. No matter which party wins, the American people lose.
The first part of this artical is obviously trying to make Presedent Obama look like a WINNER right now! Just look at the pictures He's so Happy and confident and Sara is obviously worried. She's even looking at him to give the reader the impression that HE IS THE MAN!
I don't think so, The real winning ticket to turn this country around and get it on the right track, would be Mike Huckabee(President) and Sara Palin (Vice President) Mitt should throw his financial and personal support to them if he really would like to help the country and run for president the next time.
Sara and Mike already have the support of the Republican party, because they have full media exposure EVERYDAY, and will till election day.
But this is just my opinion, thanks for the opportunity to express it. Stan Pennington
Has anyone else noted that CNN's day is not complete without a story about Palin. A day without Palin is like a day without sunshine..........
Is it any wonder to any intelligent human being why these numbers are what they are?
President Obama is just the kind of leader we need at this time in a political climate trying to deal with the diverse needs of the country.
Sarah Palin is divisive, appealing to a select group of followers who are sold on the notion she represents "normal" Americans, or to the corporate power structure intent on using her just as they did Dubya.
Wake up people, and let's move forward with a President who has the intellectual and emotional intelligence we need at this time in America.
if it's bad for Palin, it's good for the rest of us....
CNN. Placing Sarah Palin's photo directly next to our Pres Obama is sacriligious.
What are you thinking putting this hateful person (emptydress) next to our very intelligent leader?
Palin is a big time loser and will NEVER become our president. NEVER!
Finally people are seeing this moron bimbo, Palin for what she is. She is dumber than a box of rocks. She is a hateful person who spread bigotry and hate. She is a poor excuse for a parent, using her special needs child as a prop.
Our President has class and is one of the smartest Presidents we have ever had.
I have faith in the American people, they know how stupid Palin is and she is only interested in the money. She is stuck on herself.
Numbers can be a bit misleading considering so many people who DO vote don't even have a home telephone...but either way the %s probably aren't THAT much different than stated here. Liberals have a lot of nerve giving the president grief over this he would'nt have made this compromise if they had done their part and came out to vote in the midterms. The new political reality in Congress with increase in Republicans makes him have to pivot further to the right. His numbers on his base can fall but come 2012 they'll be voting for him over WHOMEVER the Republicans nominate so being incontent is pointless.
So our choices for the Republicans are a flip-flopping former Massachusetts Governor who wants to repudiate every law and initiative he signed or sponsored; a former Speaker of the House who resigned his seat not over all the improprieties he was alleged to commit, but for the most heinous sin of losing seats to Democrats during a Republican administration; an intellectual lightweight who resigned as Governor of her state in order to go on a book tour for a book that she didn't write (as I did not see any of her work at the computer or table, I am not convinced she really wrote anything, especially as she often used words that had more than 5 letters) who couldn't even answer any of the questions asked by Katie Couric even when Couric provided the answers; or a former Governor who completed his term, but believes that the Flintstones is proof that Dinosaurs and Cave Men coexisted. In addition to these four "front-runners" there are a bunch of Neo-cons who make the above four look like flaming liberals! Where is George H. W. Bush when you need him!
Oh wow, if she's fallen behind Gingrich she might as well just stop running now. Of course, let's be honest here, she never had a chance in hell and I don't think she was ever interested in being president.
What the LAME STREAM MEDIA is not reporting is the fact niether one of these clowns has a chance in hell of being President.
Obam has lost ALL credibility with the American people, due to lack of interest and success in the Job market, not stoping the Foreclosure FRAUD and always on vacation or hosting big parties for the Basketball and Intertaiment stars.
Palin is a idiot and a opportunist and the country knows it.
After the interviews and now running from the media and only doing sepaking engagemnts in private, everyone knows she is clueless and a fraudster.
The media keeps giving her free airtime everysingle day as if they want her to run and win so they have headlines.
It is quite disgusting at best.
Why not have Brittney spears and Pariss Hilton run for President, they are in fact much smarter than Palin.
What the media promotes is shameful and one day will be slapped by the American Public for it.
The sooner the better.
Ron Paul 2012, if we are not in a full blown DEPRESSION by then.
WOW folks are coming out of the tea fog!!! YEAH!!!!
Bad news for Amierca. Obama is still President and Harry Reid is still Senate Majority Leader. That means 24 more months of high unemployment, rising inflation, and increasing taxes.
This is great news for republicans. Anybody who gets to run against Barack(The Historic Failure) Obama is going to win. Keep Barry on the ticket, dems.
I wish CNN would poll more people. It seems 1,008 is the magic number to get a ±3% margin of error, but I like to look at the full results and see the breakdowns. Unfortunately, with such a small sample size the detailed results often have margins of error as high as ±8.5%, which severely limits their usefulness, especially when the results are relatively close, as they often are.
Come on, CNN. We already know most Americans don't take Palin seriously as a potential presidential candidate. That's not news. What's interesting is who does and who doesn't, but with such high margins of error in the various categories we can't draw meaningful conclusions.
Among her supporters I can see her immediate family but beyond that only truely uninformed people. No one with at least a half brain would support Sarah the quitter the half governor from Wasilla. More and more people are becoming aware of her stupidity.
I would not vote for Palin if she was in a three-way contest with Hitler and Stalin!
The Republican Party got what they wanted from Palin. She did their dirty work leading up to the 2010 elections. Now they are working overtime to dump her, because they don't want her to run in 2012 for the WH. I'm hoping the rank and file GOP members ignore the party and nominate her for President. The GOP will get bitten by the monster they created and now can't control. It will be fun to watch. On a side note, has anyone else noticed how little we hear of the TeaParty? Seems like another GOP election ploy. And once again it's no longer needed, so they don't talk about it anymore.
Don't despair Ms. Palin I heard the dog catcher position was still up for grabs.
Everyday it is "trouble for Palin" Why are you so scared CNN of S. Paliin?
Keep talking Sarah........Every time you open your mouth more folks see how REALLY DUMB you are............
Sarah Palin is as beautiful as ever, in spite of Obama's rising.
I have analyzed her attraction carefully. It's her hair and her glasses.
Even now, McCain has an eye.
Hasn't this "Bad news for Palin" article been posted on CNN at least 30 times before?
Do we really have to hear about Palin every day? If she wasn't pretty on the outside and willing to say the most idiotic, snarky things imaginable, no one would give a rat's behind about this loser.
Palin = Quitter, Liar, Mooch
Every couple weeks CNN runs another "Bad News for Palin" story. So if voters don't like her and she's losing popularity, why does CNN continue to dish up a daily Sarah Palin story? We don't care.
bye bye sarah, now even your "followers" aren't following anymore!
This is a no brainer. If you have no brain, you would consider Palin anything but a joke at this point.
Obama in 2012!!
The ONLY thing Sarah Palin has going for her is that she is plucky. I do not want a plucky president.
If Palin gets nominated to be the GOP president candidate, Obama will be able to win easily. I would like to think that she could learn from what people are saying. It is likely that she is listening only to her supporters though.
First of it is no contest. President Obama a Harvard grad, intelligent and well spoken and well read. Palin took 7 schools and 5 years to get a degree, see's Russia from her house, doesn't know what magazine she has read and quit as governor. DUHHHHHHHH
Sarah Palin was acceptable as a Vice Presidential candidate. She could attend the funerals, host the dinners, shake hands, kiss babies and throw out pitches at baseball games.
But most Republicans know she is not presidential material. If they didn't know it before, they have figured it out in the last two years.
"The federal government has accumulated more new debt–$3.22 trillion during the tenure of the 111th Congress than it did during the first 100 Congresses combined, according to official debt figures published by the U.S. Treasury."
__________________________________________________________________
This is the so-called "Bush debt" which more accurately should be called the "democrat congress debt".
I do not think any poll CNN does means anything. If their polls were helpful and believeable why is CNN so low in the polls? Cape Coral Florida
Its nice to see the change in strategy by Obama and his staff during the lame duck sessions. I just hope he continues to keep that train on track and work more closely with the GOPrs to get even more done with the new Congress. I support Obama but wouldn't mind seeing someone like Romney run to make for an exciting election. May the best person win.