A poll released by Reuters/Ipsos Wednesday shows that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has a slight lead over former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts in the race for the Republican nomination for president -- but the Democratic incumbent Barack Obama has a solid lead over every one of the Republican challengers.
With buzz growing increasingly louder that she intends to enter the Republican primaries, Palin tops the poll with 22 percent. Romney, who ran for the Republican nomination in 2008 and officially jumped into the 2012 race last week, is right behind her with 20 percent.
A poll released by Quinnipiac University earlier in the day shows those results flipped -- Romney with a solid lead over Palin, taking 25 percent to her 15 percent.
Palin and Romney have a clear advantage over the rest of the other candidates, according to the Reuters/Ipsos poll. U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas and businessman Herman Cain, a favorite of the tea party movement, tied in third place in the poll with 7 percent each.
But the poll finds Obama -- who stands at 50 percent approval in the poll -- has a healthy lead over the various Republican candidates, including the two leaders. Romney comes closest to beating Obama in the poll, but still couldgarner only38 percent while the president took 51 percent. Obama did even better when matched up against other Republican candidates and crushed Palin by 23 points.
While the Quinnipiac poll showed that Romney did better against Obama than any of the other candidates, the former Massachusetts governor still trailed by 6 percent. In the Quinnipiac poll, just as in the Reuters one, Obama had a stronger lead when he was matched up with other Republican candidates.
Despite the presidents lead, the poll contains some warning for the president.Sixty percent of those surveyed in the poll maintain thatthe country is heading in the wrong direction, while only 35 percent think it's on the right path.
The poll, however, also could give Obama and other Democrats some comfort. It finds that a plurality of those surveyed -- 43 percent -- oppose the Republican congressional budget plan championed by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. Thirty-seven percent of those surveyed back the Ryan plan.
The Reuters poll of 1,132 Americans -- and 948 registered voters -- was conducted from June 3-6. It had a margin of error of +/- 3 percent.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews or at (850) 727-0859.
