In a a story that's becoming somewhat redundant, Mike Huckabee is still at the top in a 2012 matchup among Republicans.
CNN/Opinion Research Poll (among Republicans):
1. Mike Huckabee 32%
2. Sarah Palin 25%
3. Mitt Romney 21%
4. Someone else 10%
5. Tim Pawlenty 5%
6. None/no one 5%
7. No opinion 1%.
Favorability numbers (among all respondents).
1. Mike Huckabee 43%/26% for +17%
2. Mitt Romney 36%/26% for +10%
3. Tim Pawlenty 15%/13% for +2%
4. Sarah Palin 42%/51%
Notes: The poll is good and good for Mike Huckabee, bad and kind of good for Mitt Romney, good and bad for Sarah Palin, and neither and neither for Tim Pawlenty.
Huck's good/good: He's the most popular Republican prospect in the country at-large, and his party's preference.
Romney's bad and kind of good: The presumptive front-runner is still polling only 3rd and trails Sarah Palin, who hasn't made nearly as disciplined or organized an effort at taking steps to run. At the same time, his favorability number is good. Lots of Americans haven't formed an opinion, and for those who have, most like him.
Sarah Palin's good and bad: She's second. After the seagulls and the Cheechakos, she's only slipped marginally from CNN's 2012 poll in February. In that poll, Palin led the pack at 29%. Since then, she's lost 4%, Huck's gained 6%, and Romney's stayed the same. So Palin's proving resilient among her supporters.
Her numbers on key attributes among all respondents are also encouraging -- she's seen as a good role model for women, someone who cares about regular folks, and most people think she's honest.
But again, the bad is so bad. Those qualification numbers (29%/71%) are dismal, and again, it's hard to imagine how signing books and giving speeches can compensate for the political experience she would have had by remaining in office.
UPDATE: Matt Lewis:
"There [are] a lot of things happening that are changing. It could be that Sarah Palin has captured that zeitgeist, that she sees things that nobody else sees, or it could be that she's running a really bad campaign.
We'll find out."
