Mike Huckabee leads the GOP field in Pennsylvania in hypothetical 2012 presidential primary matchups, while home state advantage only helps a former native Senator take fifth place, according to a new PPP poll.
In the poll, 21% supported Huckabee, versus 18% who backed Sarah Palin. Newt Gingrich trailed those two candidates at 16%, followed by Mitt Romney (14%) and former Sen. Rick Santorum (11%).
Huckabee’s lead was even larger when PPP dropped Santorum from the slate. Sans Santorum, Huckabee led the pack with 26% to Palin’s 21%, Romney’s 16%, and Gingrich’s 15%.
Santorum has kept himself busy building a national profile since his ouster from the Senate in 2006. He endorsed conservative favorites in the midterm elections, including Tea Party darling Marco Rubio in Florida, and went on a bus tour across Iowa last fall urging voters there to get rid of pro-gay marriage judges on the state’s Supreme Court.
Though Pennsylvanians aren’t so supportive of nominating Santorum for president, they did name him as their top choice to challenge Sen. Bob Casey for his old Senate seat in 2012. Forty-five percent of respondents said Santorum was their first choice to be the GOP Senate nominee, well ahead of his closest challenger, Jim Gerlach, who garnered support from just 9% of respondents.
The PPP poll was conducted January 3-5 among 400 Republican voters in Pennsylvania. It has a margin of error of 4.9%.
