President Obama is well positioned to win Iowa in 2012 as he did in the last election, though Mike Huckabee would make the race interesting should he emerge as the GOP nominee, according to a PPP poll released today.
Obama led each of the GOP contenders in the poll, with just Huckabee and Mitt Romney coming within single digits of the President. Obama led Huckabee 47% to 43%, and topped Romney 47% to 41%. Newt Gingrich trailed Obama by 13 points, 51% to 38%, while Palin, as has become the norm in PPP polls, fared worst, trailing 53% to 37%.
Obama’s comfortable leads are no surprise given that exactly half of Iowans approve of the job he’s doing as president, versus 43% who disapprove of his job performance.
But on the Republican side, only Huckabee has a net positive favorable rating. Forty-two percent of respondents had a favorable opinion of the former Arkansas governor, compared to 39% who viewed him unfavorably. For Romney, that split was 37%-42%, good for a negative five point net favorability. Those splits were much worse for Gingrich (30%-49%) and Palin (34%-50%.)
Earlier this week, PPP released results showing Huckabee cruising ahead of the GOP competition for the party nod in Iowa by 12 points, earning the support of 30% of respondents in the poll. Romney was the second choice, drawing support from 18% of respondents.
The PPP poll was conducted January 7-9 among 1,077 Iowans, It has a margin of error of 3.0%.
