Christianity Today: Palin Stands to Gain Most with Huckabee Out

With Mike Huckabee gone, Gov. Palin is the top-choice among GOP's evangelicals
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According to a report by Christianity Today's Tobin Grant, a poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press suggests that most of Mike Huckabee's support would go to Sarah Palin, if she ran:

In March, Pew asked GOP voters who they wanted in the presidential race. Huckabee received 20 percent support among Republican voters. He did even better (29 percent) among evangelicals in the GOP. The Pew poll also asked who voters second pick was. By using Huckabee supporters second pick, the poll finds that support for Sarah Palin is the most likely to increase.

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With Huckabee out of the race, support for Palin could increase from 13 to 19 percent. Support for other candidates also increased but not more than the margin of error; the increases could be due to chance.

Palin's support increases even more among evangelicals. Originally, with Huckabee in the field of candidates, Palin was tied with Mitt Romney for second. Each received around 15 percent among these voters. With Huckabee gone, Palin is the top-choice among evangelicals in the GOP with 25 percent support and Romney's support barely increased.

More than half (51 percent) of Republicans qualify as born-again Christians, according to research by the Barna Group, but their extraordinary turnout rate at the polls place them among the most influential demographic groups in Republican primaries. In Iowa, for example, 60 percent of Republican caucus goers are evangelical Christians, and in South Carolina, half of GOP voters are self described evangelicals.

h/t: Fay

- JP