Clarus national: Romney 19% Huckabee 18% Palin 17% Gingrich 10% Christie 9%

[Mr. Morden]

National primary poll conducted by Clarus Reserach Group from Dec. 10-16:

http://www.clarusrg.com/sites/default/files/2012%20Presidental%20Race_0.pdf

Romney 19%
Huckabee 18%
Palin 17%
Gingrich 10%
Christie 9%
Rubio 5%
Paul 4%
Jindal 4%
Pawlenty 3%
Barbour 2%
Thune 2%
Daniels 2%

Another interesting question asked of the GOP primary sample: Which of these qualities would you prefer in a candidate?

management experience as a governor 65%
vs.
legislative experience in Congress 15%

experience in private busienss 53%
vs.
experience in government 28%

intelligent and competent 49%
vs.
clear and consistent philosophical principles 37%

moderate, pragmatic conservative with good chance to beat Obama 61%
vs.
staunch, outspoken conservative with only a fair chance of beating Obama 29%

[Jayhawker]

management experience as a governor 65%

experience in private busienss 53%

intelligent and competent 49%

moderate, pragmatic conservative with good chance to beat Obama 61%

If those are actual percentages, Mitt Romney is golden, as he's the only candidate to meet all of those credentials.

[JulioMadrid]

management experience as a governor 65%

experience in private busienss 53%

intelligent and competent 49%

moderate, pragmatic conservative with good chance to beat Obama 61%

If those are actual percentages, Mitt Romney is golden, as he's the only candidate to meet all of those credentials.

Mitch Daniels and Tim Pawlenty could be "golden", too

[Secretary Polnut]

management experience as a governor 65%

experience in private busienss 53%

intelligent and competent 49%

moderate, pragmatic conservative with good chance to beat Obama 61%

If those are actual percentages, Mitt Romney is golden, as he's the only candidate to meet all of those credentials.

What a completely overrated quality...

[Poundingtherock]

Uh, here's what Clarus isn't telling you.

Clarus was pretty much the only pollster to show Romney with a big lead over the summer.  In fact, he led Palin by 14 in Clarus' last poll.  In fact, Clarus blasted this headline:

http://clarusrg.com/sites/default/files/August%2012.pdf

So, Romney has fallen 7 points from July and 11 points from last year.  Palin and Huckabee have remained steady from last year while Palin is up 5 from July.

So in reality, Clarus was already much more positive towards Romney than any other pollster.  The fact that he can only now show Romney in a cluster means that Romney is well....dead weight. 

[A-Bob]

Including Christie and Rubio moves 14% of the vote that has a 100% chance of going  to other candidates

[Tender Branson]

Can pollsters please stop including Christie and Rubio in their polls ?

Rubio would just be a 4-month US-Senator until he has to declare his candidacy for President and Christie already said something like he'd rather commit suicide than run for President.

[Yelnoc]

Uh, here's what Clarus isn't telling you.

Clarus was pretty much the only pollster to show Romney with a big lead over the summer.  In fact, he led Palin by 14 in Clarus' last poll.  In fact, Clarus blasted this headline:

http://clarusrg.com/sites/default/files/August%2012.pdf

So, Romney has fallen 7 points from July and 11 points from last year.  Palin and Huckabee have remained steady from last year while Palin is up 5 from July.

So in reality, Clarus was already much more positive towards Romney than any other pollster.  The fact that he can only now show Romney in a cluster means that Romney is well....dead weight. 

I'm pretty sure this is the first time I have ever agreed with you.  Congrats.

[The Mikado]

Who is Clarus and why should I care?