59% conservatives say Mitt Romney is an acceptable choice for the nomination. Poll: Conservatives embrace Romney

Mitt Romney is the only 2012 candidate whom a majority of Republicans — including conservatives — consider an “acceptable” GOP nominee for president, according to a Gallup Poll Tuesday.

In the new survey, 59 percent of all Republicans said Romney would be an acceptable presidential nominee for the Republican Party. Just 46 percent said the same for Newt Gingrich and 45 percent for Rick Santorum, who were trailed by Rick Perry at 37 percent, Ron Paul at 29 percent and Jon Huntsman at 21 percent.


Romney is also the only candidate whom the majority of both conservative and moderate/liberal Republicans say is an “acceptable” GOP nominee — 59 percent of conservatives said the former Massachusetts governor was an acceptable Republican presidential candidate and 59 percent of moderate/liberal Republicans said the same.

Since the same question was asked in a Nov. 28-Dec. 1 poll, Romney’s overall acceptability rose 5 percentage points, up to 59 percent from 54 percent. Rick Santorum’s acceptability saw a more significant surge, moving up from 27 percent to 45 percent. Meanwhile, Gingrich’s acceptability as a presidential nominee fell among Republicans, from 62 percent last month to 46 percent in the new survey.

No other candidate except Romney enjoyed majority support among moderate Republicans. For Newt Gingrich, 51 percent of conservative Republicans said the former House speaker would be an acceptable nominee for president, but just 36 percent of moderate Republicans said the same.

Fifty-percent of conservative Republicans said Rick Santorum would make an acceptable GOP nominee, while 35 percent of moderate/liberal Republicans said the same. Rick Perry was considered an acceptable nominee by 41 percent of conservative Republicans and 29 percent of moderate Republicans.

Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman were the only candidates who were found acceptable by a greater percentage of moderate Republicans than of conservative ones.

The Gallup Poll was conducted Jan. 5-8 among 479 Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 6 percentage points.