Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann went head-to-head over the weekend in a straw-poll battle regarding the GOP presidential nomination — but this was a race in a forum that neither candidate wanted to win.

The two women, darlings of the Republican right, ran at the top of a survey at the Netroots Nations conference, attended by more than 500 people who consider themselves on the left flank. But winning this survey means that liberals have the least fear of either woman, viewing them as candidates who would give President Obama the easiest race.

FormerMassachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney won the poll as the candidate that progressives least want to face Obama in 2012. By a wide margin, the liberal participants said they felt Romney would be the likely opponent.

Photos: The 2012 GOP presidential hopefuls


Palin, the former GOP vice presidential nominee, got 32 votes, while Bachmann, the congresswoman from Minnesota, was chosen by 27 people as the candidate conferees would most prefer ran against Obama. The survey, which of course lacked any scientific value, was a Christmas list of what one wing of the Democratic Party would like to see in the presidential race.

The straw poll was conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research and Democracy Corps in close partnership with Revolution Messaging. The results are based on a straw poll of 519 conference attendees conducted via text messaging, onsite iPads and an online platform.

On more serious issues, the straw poll found that participants were strongly supportive of Obama despite some public misgivings. Many liberals have questioned Obama’s policies on U.S. military engagement and healthcare as short of what they had sought.

Despite some publicized criticism from the left, progressives remain loyal to Barack Obama and remain focused on the economy as the top issue our country faces today.” said Stan Greenberg, chief executive of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner.


michael.muskal@latimes.com