Wednesday, February 23, 2011

PPP Polling: Huckabee ahead of Obama in North Carolina

President Obama enjoyed a little surge in popularity last month around the country, regaining plurality approval in North Carolina and for the first time leading all four potential Republican opponents tested against him in the Tar Heel State. But in PPP’s latest poll, he has regressed back to even on the approval front, and now posts a hair-thin deficit to Mike Huckabee while still leading Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, and Sarah Palin in a state he won for his party for the first time in a generation.
Huckabee barely prevails, 47-46, after the president led, 49-45, in January. He has also slipped a little to Gingrich, who is now down only 48-44 (versus 50-43 a month ago). But Obama has stayed steady with the other two, leading Romney 47-44, the same as last month, and topping Palin, 51-41 (again almost exactly like the 50-41 last month). As in most other states, these candidates, already very well-known to voters at this early stage of the cycle, are not even as strong as John McCain was in his blowout 2008 defeat. Only Huckabee bests McCain’s less-than-one-point loss here.
Favorable/Unfavorable/Not sure:

Mike Huckabee 43/34/23 (+9)
Mitt Romney 37/39/24 (-2)
Sarah Palin 37/57/6 (-20)
Newt Gingrich 30/48/22 (-18)

Head-to-Head: (Obama/Candidate/Undecided)

Mike Huckabee 46/47/7 (+1)
Mitt Romney 47/44/9 (-3)
Newt Gingrich 48/44/8 (-4)
Sarah Palin 51/41/8 (-10)
PPP surveyed 650 North Carolina voters from February 16th to 21st. The survey’s margin of error is +/-3.8%. Other factors, such as refusal to be interviewed and weighting, may introduce additional error that is more difficult to quantify.
 To view the crosstabs click the PPP icon below:

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I thought Romney wasn't supposed to do well in these Southern states?