Poll: Sarah Palin Has Highest Favorability Rating Among GOP Primary Voters

Though former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was not included in a Public Policy Polling survey of potential 2016 Republican presidential contenders, she was still overwhelmingly the most liked person among Republican primary voters.

According to Public Policy Polling:

The best liked person we tested on this poll with Republican primary voters is actually Sarah Palin who has a 70/20 favorability rating. She’s followed by Huckabee at 64/18, Ryan at 58/18, Paul at 58/21, Bush at 56/18, Cruz at 45/20, and Christie at 40/38. Most of those numbers are similar to what they were a month ago but Christie’s seen a substantial drop from +18 at 47/29 a month ago to his new +2 net favorability.

The left-leaning polling outfit asked Republican primary voters, “Given the choices of Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, Bobby Jindal, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Paul Ryan, and Scott Walker, who would you most like to see as the GOP candidate for President in 2016?”

Huckabee led among the group with 16% to 14% for former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush; 13% for Chris Christie; 11% for Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY); 8% each for Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Paul Ryan (R-WI); 6% for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker; and 5% for Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. Ten percent of respondents either wanted someone else or were unsure of their preference.

The poll asked respondents how they viewed Palin in a separate question at the conclusion of the poll, and Palin’s favorability numbers show why former South Carolina Senator and Heritage Foundation President Jim DeMint said that Palin’s endorsement was the most influential in a Republican primary. The poll was conducted January 23 to 26 and has a margin of error of +/- 4.6 percentage points.