President Obama comfortably led a slate of potential Republican challengers in a PPP poll released Thursday, even though a slim plurality of voters disapproved of his job performance.
That’s likely because while voters weren’t too thrilled with Obama, they were even less excited about his potential challengers. Every Republican tested in the poll posted a net negative favorability rating, the most extreme example being Sarah Palin, whom 61% of respondents viewed unfavorably.
Obama’s closest contest came against Mike Huckabee, whom he edged 48% to 43%. Obama also topped Mitt Romney 47% to 41%, beat Chris Christie 48% to 39%, and led Rand Paul 48% to 38%.
Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin polled further back, trailing Obama 52%-38%, and 54%-36% respectively.
Obama’s leads come despite his approval rating being slightly underwater, with 47% of voters approving of his job performance and 48% disapproving. Yet while Obama is slightly unpopular, his opponents are even more so.
Chris Christie came closest to posting a net positive favorably rating, with 28% of voters viewing him favorably, and 30% viewing him unfavorably. Mike Huckabee was next closest with a 36% to 42% split. The net deficits for the other four Republicans all hit double-digits: Romney (-11), Paul (-19), Gingrich (-27) and Palin (-30.)
The PPP poll was conducted April 7-10 among 532 voters nationwide. It has a margin of error of 4.3%.
