Ron Faucheaux’s Clarus Research Grouphas a poll out testing two main things: independent voters’ take on President Obama and the relative strength of possible 2012 Republican candidates. On the first measure, 77 percent of independents say that the president is “eventually going to have to raise taxes,” 69 percent say he’s doing “too much too fast,” and 64 percent say he “wants government to do too many things. Opposition to the president’s health care plan is 48 percent to only 39 percent support. On the second measure, the president can breath easier; no one in the likely 2012 GOP field has a clear shot at him.
Clarus has former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-Mass.) leading among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (i.e., people who can vote in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Michigan primaries) with 30 percent of the vote to 22 percent for former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-Ark.), 18 percent for former Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska), 15 percent for former Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), and 4 percent for Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-La.). Among independents, Romney’s at 35 percent; among Republicans, he’s at 28 percent. All are good numbers for a candidate who perpetually lost primaries to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) because of independent voters.
The bigger picture: