Poll: Pawlenty continues to round out bottom of presidential contenders

Gov. Tim Pawlenty continues to lag in the pool of 2012 presidential contenders, according to a poll of “typical national Republican primary voters” released by Public Policy Polling on Tuesday. Pawlenty was tied with Ron Paul for fifth place with 5 percent, while 12 percent of those surveyed were undecided. Sarah Palin topped the poll with 21 percent, followed by Newt Gingrich with 19 percent, Mitt Romney with 18 percent, and Mike Huckabee with 16 percent.

When voters were asked about their second choice, Pawlenty lagged even further, dropping to sixth place with 4 percent. Palin and Huckabee were the top second choice picks for voters at 20 percent each. Gingrich and Romney got third place with 13 percent, and Paul came in behind them at 6 percent with Mitch Daniels and John Thune rounding out the bottom two. Nineteen percent were undecided.

Pawlenty’s showing is in line with recent polls including a Quinnipiac University poll released last week that had him at 6 percent and in fifth place among 2012 presidential contenders.