The nation's most popular Republican, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, has very little chance of defeating President Obama in 2012 according to a recently released ABC News/Washington Post poll. The one-time McCain running mate trailed the president substantially on all fronts, according to the poll data. Six in 10 Americans, they found, outright reject the notion of ever voting for her.
The only similarities in how both politicians stacked up, ABC noted, were in the number of survey respondents who said they'd consider supporting one or the other. In the column registering those who would "definitely" support either candidate, Obama came out ahead 26 percent to 8 percent. A full 59 percent said they would "definitely not" support Palin, while only 43 percent said the same of Obama.
An earlier ABC News poll, from October, found that 67 percent of Americans considered Palin to be "unqualified" for the job of president.
GA_googleFillSlot("Raw_Embedded_300");
The Gallup polling firm found in November that Palin is by far the most popular Republican considered a potential 2012 candidate, with 67 percent of Republicans saying they'd vote for her over all others. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney placed second with 62 percent, with former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee in third at 61 percent.
ABC's poll also factored in a potential candidacy by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-independent who has advocated recently for anti-partisan solutions to national problems.
The survey found no significant differences in the potential outcome of a three-way race between Obama, Palin and Bloomberg, noting he drew votes equally from the two partisan candidates, similarly to how third party presidential candidate Ross Perot performed in the 1994 election.
Read the full survey (PDF).
