Natalie Gonnella
Although Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and Donald Trump continue to lead among the GOP's field potential presidential contenders, Rasmussen Reports this week looked to the underdogs in their latest 2012 survey, pondering the questions "what if they held a Republican Primary contest and the front-runners didn’t show up? Or what if voters look for anybody but the front-runner?"
Purposely excluding the main contenders, Rasmussen's latest poll reveals that Minnesota Congresswoman and Tea Party favorite Michele Bachmann holds a substantial lead among her fellow "dark horses", rallying "27% of voter support when pitted against eight other possible second-tier candidates." Former Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania polls second with 12% of the vote, and Georgia businessman Herman Cain picks up nine percent.
Interestingly, former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, the only Republican to have officially announced his candidacy, significantly trails his competition with just 1% of the vote.
Also mentioned in the survey are Texas Governor Rick Perry, former Utah governor and ex-ambassador to China John Huntsman, former Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer, and Michigan Congressman Thaddeus McCotter.
The full analysis from Rasmussen's "dark horse" poll is available here.
Comments