It’s no surprise that Barna’s new survey of the Republican presidential horse race (h/t David Gibson) shows Mike Huckebee doing well among Protestants, the more conservative the better. What’s striking to me is that he’s running neck-and-neck with Mitt Romney in the Catholic favorability sweepstakes: 45-32 as opposed to 46-29. Meanwhile, the unfavorables outweigh the favorables among Catholics for the other three horses: Palin (35-64), Paul (29-35), and Gingrich (27-46). To boot, Gingrich is the only Catholic in the field.
Yes, I’m aware that the Beltway likes of George Will, E.J. Dionne, and David Brooks have written Huckabee off. And that out there in Little Rock, John Brummett thinks he’s only in it for the fame and the dough. But back in 2008 Huck lost the GOP primaries because he couldn’t get Catholics to vote for him. I’m thinking that he’s looking at those numbers and thinking, Holy Cow!
