From Rasmussen:
If the 2012 presidential election were held today, President Obama and possible Republican nominee Mitt Romney would be all tied up at 45% each, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
The president, seeking a second four-year term, beats another potential GOP rival, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, by six points – 48% to 42%.
That Palin would receive 42% of the vote in a presidential election compared to Obama’s 48% as things currently stand is impressive. It says that maybe Palin’s political obituary shouldn’t be etched in stone so soon. She has hinted that she doesn’t have to be a conventional politician to affect society. So what can non-conventional politicians do to pursue their goals? Run as third-party candidates, of course. (read: Ralph Nader, Ron Paul 1988, and Teddy Roosevelt 1912). In that case, the results don’t look as great for the soon-to-be former governor.
Just 21% of voters nationwide say Palin should run as an independent if she loses the Republican presidential nomination in 2012. Sixty-three percent (63%) say the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee should not run as an independent. Sixteen percent (16%) are not sure.
Still, Rasmussen writes out the result of Bull Moose-like scenario where Republicans split between Palin and Romney. Obama would pull a Wilson on this one and continue four more years of change.
If Romney secured the GOP nomination and Palin chose to run as an independent candidate, Obama would win the resulting three-way race with 44% of the vote. Romney is the choice of 33% of the voters under that scenario, with Palin a distant third with 16% support. Three percent (3%) like some other candidate, and four percent (4%) are undecided.”
Other than the resembling electoral scenarios, what else is there in common between these candidates and those from a hundred years ago? Obama is more internationalist than Palin and Romney—though it is dubious that he would pass an actual Wilsonian test with flying colors. Roosevelt once said that he was “as strong as a bull moose,” and Palin supported a policy to allow wolf hunting from the air in part to help increase the Alaskan moose population (in a more intricate connection, Roosevelt devised this activity right after inventing hunting, the Wright Brothers, and the airplane). Romney and Taft…well, they are both male and alleged Republicans. Unless Romney increases his weight over a hundred pounds or records show that Taft hired illegal immigrants from Guatemala to work on his lawn, those are the only readily apparent similarities between the two.
