Palin, Huckabee lead GOP field in new poll

It's not too early to start handicapping the Republican presidential field for 2012, apparently.

A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released this afternoon put Sarah Palin, the GOP vice presidential nominee, and Mike Huckabee, who contested the presidential nomination, at the head of the pack.

According to the survey, 67 percent of Republicans said they would be very or somewhat likely to support Palin, the Alaska governor, if she ran, while 65 percent said so of Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor.

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney comes in third at 61 percent, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani gets 57 percent, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has 52 percent, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has 44 percent, and Florida Governor Charlie Crist gets 32 percent.

Romney and Giuliani ran this time, and along with Gingrich probably benefit from pure name recognition. Jindal and Crist, while popular in the party, are lesser known.

The survey, conducted Monday and Tuesday, has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points among Republican respondents.