New Jersey Governor Leads Obama, 43%-40%
UTICA, New York - New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie leads a hypothetical field of contenders for the Presidential nomination among Republican voters, and is the only Republican tested who leads President Barack Obama among all voters, while Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney are tied, a new Zogby Interactive poll finds
Of the following, which Republican would you vote for in 2012 for President if they are on the ballot?
|
Candidates |
Republican Voters |
|
Chris Christie |
27% |
|
Mitt Romney |
17% |
|
Sarah Palin |
16% |
|
Mike Huckabee |
14% |
|
Mitch Daniels |
5% |
|
Tim Pawlenty |
2% |
|
John Thune |
2% |
|
Not sure/Other |
18% |
Totals may not add up to 100% due to rounding.
The poll, conducted from Dec. 30, 2010 to Jan. 3, 2011, shows Christie leads among conservative Republicans with 28%, followed by Palin (18%), Huckabee (15%) and Romney (14%). Christie also leads among Born-Again Christians with 27%. He also does well with moderate Republicans (23%). Romney leads that group with 28%.
Looking at age groups, Christie does best with those 18-29 (36%) and 30-49 (33%).
If the 2012 Presidential election were held today, for whom would you vote? (Asked of all voters.)
|
Candidate |
Chris Christie |
Mitt Romney |
Mike Huckabee |
Tim Pawlenty |
Mitch Daniels |
Sarah Palin |
John Thune |
|
Obama |
40% |
41% |
42% |
41% |
40% |
45% |
42% |
|
Opponent |
43% |
41% |
39% |
38% |
36% |
38% |
35% |
|
Neither |
9% |
12% |
14% |
10% |
12% |
16% |
12% |
|
Not Sure |
9% |
6% |
6% |
12% |
12% |
1% |
12% |
Totals may not add up to 100% due to rounding.
Both Christie and Romney lead Obama among independent voters. For Christie, that margin is 42%-29%; and for Romney, 39%-31%. Of the listed Republicans, Palin does the worst against Obama among independents, losing 38%-32%.
Obama loses to each of the Republicans among voters over age 65; and trails by the biggest margins to Romney (51%-38%) and Christie (49%-39%).
Pollster John Zogby: "Christie's blunt talk about public employees and his aggressive actions on the New Jersey state budget have made him very popular both within the Republican Party and with independents. His style and appearance would present quite the contrast to that of the President. He adds not only an alternative governing philosophy, but also real efforts at cutting spending. If he decided to run, Christie could quickly oust Romney as the favorite of establishment Republicans. Our results are not good news for Palin. She isn't winning independents, and despite her star power with conservatives, she is not their first choice to take on Obama."
The interactive poll of 2,073 likely voters has a margin of error of +/-2.2%. The subset of 746 Republican likely voters has a margin of error of +/-3.7%. A sampling of Zogby International's online panel, which is representative of the adult population of the U.S., was invited to participate. Slight weights were added to region, party, age, race, religion, gender, and education to more accurately reflect the population.