Free Republic

Mitt Romney is the only Republican 2012 hopeful that a sizable number of voters considers qualified to be president. Sarah Palin is the one they view as least qualified, but, at this early stage, many voters are still in the dark about all the possible candidates. However, voters feel strongest that Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee in 2008, is not qualified. Twenty-three percent (23%) say the former Alaska governor is qualified to serve as the nation’s chief executive, but 63% say she is not qualified. Palin is the best-known of the Republicans with just 15% undecided about her.

President Obama leads Donald Trump by 15 percentage points in a hypothetical 2012 match-up, but the president is unable to top the 50% level of support even against an opponent some are deriding as a joke. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that the president earns support from 49% of Likely Voters nationwide, while Trump attracts the vote from 34%. Given that choice, 12% would vote for some other candidate, and five percent (5%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.) Only 65% of Republican voters would vote for Trump over Obama. Among voters not affiliated...