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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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.