In the latest Public Policy Polling data on hypothetical 2012 presidential matchups, President Obama edges out every major potential Republican nominee, including Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, and Newt Gingrich. And he also beats barely coherent Internet sensation and apparently dark-horse presidential hopeful Basil Marceaux by 25 points, in case you were wondering. It’s really not that terrible a showing, considering that almost nobody has heard of Marceaux, and those that have find him comically insane. Hell, New Jersey governor Chris Christie, a rising star in the GOP, loses to Obama by sixteen points. Still, wait why are we asking about Basil Marceaux to begin with? Presuming that the question was included in the poll as pure (and obviously effective) blog bait, we sought an explanation from PPP’s Tom Jensen.
Jensen said the Marceaux question was “just to amuse whoever it might amuse,” although it did prove useful in one sense. “I guess his poor performance did show that there is some limit to how far voters who don’t like Obama are willing to go to replace him,” he said.
We’ll see. Marceaux, and his ideas, are new to the national stage. Once his platform — including “stopping traffic stops,” canceling Thanksgiving, fining people for not owning guns, deporting everyone who “looks Mexican,” and granting members of the military immunity from all crimes — is given a wider audience in the 2012 campaign, who knows how high he can climb.
The Monthly 2012 [PPP]
Poll Data On All Top 2012 Presidential Candidates Collected, Including Presumptive GOP Nominee Basil Marceaux [Wonkette]
