GOP More Satisfied with Presidential Candidates, But More Divided Ideologically

Russell Tate/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Republicans steadily express more satisfaction with their party’s declared candidates for president, yet with a sharp division between conservatives and moderates that could portend challenges when it comes time for the party to coalesce around its ultimate nominee.

Among conservative Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, Texas Gov. Rick Perry has a commanding 39-21 percent lead over Mitt Romney in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll. Yet among moderates the tables turn: Romney leads Perry, 35-12 percent.

There being more conservatives than moderates in the party, it’s advantage Perry. Yet, in a challenge to party cohesiveness, fewer than eight in 10 Romney supporters -- 78 percent -- say they’d support Perry in a general election race against Obama. More Perry supporters, 91 percent, say they’d back Romney were he the nominee.

Even with that challenge, Perry’s posting some impressive results. Thirty-seven percent of his backers “strongly” support him; Romney’s strong support is much lower, 15 percent, and down sharply, from 29 percent in July. And views of Perry as the candidate best able to defeat President Obama in November 2012 have grown among leaned Republicans from six percent in July to 30 percent now. Romney in the same time has lost 12 points on this score, and now trails Perry.

These two lead the field with or without Sarah Palin in the race. And while Palin plays out her adaptation of Hamlet -- to run, or not to run -- she faces continued deep challenges as a would-be candidate. Sixty-three percent of Americans see her as unqualified to serve as president, including 46 percent of leaned Republicans and 42 percent of supporters of the Tea Party movement. Those are large numbers to lose on the basic question of qualification for office.

Perry, Romney and five other declared candidates -- not Palin -- meet in a debate Wednesday night at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif. It’s their first since Perry entered the race in mid-August and promptly advanced to the front rank in support.

This poll, produced for ABC News by Langer Research Associates, finds Perry with 29-percent support among Republican and Republican-leaning independents and Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, with 25 percent, with all other declared candidates well behind.

In another notable result, Rep. Michele Bachmann, after a summertime gain, has ebbed from 16 percent support in July to eight percent now.

With Palin included there’s little change; a 27-22 percent Perry-Romney contest, with 14 percent for Palin, a former Alaska governor and the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee. Her support, and Romney’s, have been essentially flat this summer, while Perry’s moved up sharply.

It’d be easy to paint these results as portraying a Perry-Romney race, and currently it is. But provisos are in order: Forty-six percent of leaned Republicans don’t pick either of these two. Both their strength-of-support levels indicate plenty of room for movement. And the future is always uncertain; at this time in 2007, Rudy Giuliani was the clear leader, with the eventual nominee, John McCain, 10 points back, and indeed a point behind former Sen. Fred Thompson, who proceeded to drop off the charts.

The general election, 14 months off, is equally uncertain. But given his growing weakness, President Obama’s support has softened in most head-to-head matchups. He runs essentially evenly against Perry and Romney alike, and has lost ground against others.

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