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SALT LAKE CITY -- A new ABC News/Washington Post poll shows the race to be the next Republican candidate for president is wide open, but three potential candidates stand out from the pack.
- Mike Huckabee - 21 percent of vote
- Sara Palin - 19 percent of vote
- Mitt Romney - 17 percent of vote
- Newt Gingrich - 9 percent of vote
- Chris Christie - 8 percent of vote
The poll shows Mike Huckabee in the lead with 21 percent of the vote, Sarah Palin is second with 19 percent, and Mitt Romney rounds out the top three with 17 percent of the vote.
Matthew Burbank, an associate professor of political science at the University of Utah, says the numbers are all within the margin of error, which shows there is no clear-cut front runner for the GOP.
"Many, many times in Republican primaries what you have is somebody who is sort of the person who gets picked early, and that's who ends up being the nominee," Burbank said "I don't think you have that in this circumstance."
Burbank said he also expects others to join the "big three" candidates in the polls as the election gets closer.
Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. also showed up in the poll, getting 1 percent of the vote.
"Jon Huntsman would have to move fairly quickly in order to be in that mix; and right now, of course, he is Ambassador to China. He has a big commitment. That is a very important relationship. It's not clear that timing is going to work out to his best advantage," Burbank said.
He does, however, think Huntsman could start to put himself in a good position to make a run for the 2016 presidential race.
As for the current top three GOP candidates, Burbank says all three have their strengths. But he calls Palin the "wild card" candidate if she decides to run.
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Burbank also says Romney looks to be a solid candidate at this point.
"Romney, I think -- among the more ‘establishment Republicans' -- I think he's probably the stronger candidate," Burbank said.
The poll found Romney leads his competitors with 30 percent of the vote among voters who have attended college. Huckabee gets 25 percent of the vote among those who do not have college degrees.
CLICK HERE to read more about the ABC News/Washington Post poll.
E-mail: rjeppesen@ksl.com
(Photo: AP file)
